


A Tale from Mystic Mana

by Neo7heGod



Category: Dungeons & Dragons (Roleplaying Game), Foster's Home For Imaginary Friends
Genre: Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe, Crossover, Cults, Fantasy, Friendship, Mild Language, Originally Posted on FanFiction.Net, Religious Content, Religious Imagery & Symbolism, Some Humor, Spells & Enchantments
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-22
Updated: 2021-02-04
Packaged: 2021-03-07 00:06:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 10
Words: 26,225
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26047738
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Neo7heGod/pseuds/Neo7heGod
Summary: A crossover of Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends and Dungeons & Dragons. We follow Bloo, a young slimefolk wizard who goes on thrill seeking adventures with his close friends. He's allied with Wilt, the righteous sword fighter who leads the group. Ed, the fearsome appearing barbarian with a pure spirit. And Coco, the kindhearted, yet mystifying bard. The main four are residents of a mysterious village called Mystic Mana, a place where secrecy is its main defense from the outside world.
Kudos: 6





	1. Prologue

One of the most well-known series of bedtime stories told to children from across the land involves a pecuilar village known as Mystic Mana. The folklore contains many stories of all sorts of creatures with different feats, shapes, and sizes. These creatures aren't like normal races, like orcs or halflings, but are more atypical. These entities are as if a very young child imagined them, take, for instance, a scary looking monster who's actually a gentle giant, a strange palm tree that's actually a bird, or a tall red man with a lanky build. The village was predominantly composed of a magical essence, an essence in which embraces a youth's creativity and heart. The stories commonly go over the usual life lessons and always had a good ending with every character learning something positive about themselves. The stories' setting is mistakingly believed as fictional, which isn't the case. Mystic Mana is a real village with strange creatures located deep in an unknown humid forest, away from most populated areas. The folklore is heavily exaggerated, and the village isn't as heartfelt as the stories led on. But it is still an interesting and unique place. Here's the actual story of a former inhabitant of Mystic Mana, one of the famous "characters" in the orginal folklore, with the name of Blooregard Q. Kazoo in the tale. That name is actually not correct, due to the old nature of the stories, the name changed as it was told from generation to generation. The real name is Blooregard X. Magnus.


	2. Mishaps

"Now flip over to the next section titled, _How to Maintain Your Spellbook,_ " Instructed by the man-sized rabbit in front of the assembly of students.

"Now look closely at the paragraph on the top of the page, it reads, _Always keep your spellbook in a proper, safe, and secure place when not in use. Careless placement of your spellbook could lead to dangerous mishaps for yourself and others…_ "

The blue slime groaned and grimaced in the back of the brick classroom, showing immense boredom during the lecture he stopped tuning into long ago. This stops when a hushed voice to the left of him whispers,

"I think you should pay attention to this, Bloo. This might show up in the test at the end of the semester, man," The ten feet tall red entity told the slime.

"Hmph, I already know all of this stuff anyway, Wilt. I know everything about being a wizard before I even stepped through the door on the first day. I'm a slimefolk, I'm made for magic!" Bloo said as he folded an old parchment into a dart.

Wilt rolled his only good eye and replied, "Yeah, yeah, I know your family taught you how to do magic n' stuff. But you should still at least look like you care. Mr. Herriman does a lot for us."

"Ha, I know enough to even teach him a thing or two." Bloo joked as he began to aim the dart.

"Said by the 'wizard' who always almost kills himself when casting Acid Splash," the huge purple monster to the right of Bloo teased, giggling.

"Oh hush, Ed. You couldn't even defeat a tiny goblin a few months ago because he looked 'too freaky,' He was literally like two feet tall."

"You didn't have to go there, I was just 'messing' with you. Was that the word for it?" Eduardo pondered.

Wilt shook his head in disappointment, "You guys are like little kids sometimes…"

Bloo nudged off the jab at him and shot the paper dart into a spider web located in a dusty corner of the classroom. The dart pierced through the intricate design, tearing a good portion of it apart, but some strands were still held together. Bloo's amusement went straight back to boredom as the class paced on. After a few minutes of Mr. Herriman's lecture, Wilt hushly spoke to Bloo and Eduardo again,

"After class is over, you fellas wanna go find that chest that Billy was talking about the other day? After we go get Coco from her Bard classes of course."

"Why not, it could have something co-" Bloo was saying until he was abruptly interrupted by Eduardo,

"Didn't Billy say that it was in some dark tunnel outside the village? What if it has someone in it, spiders, or even worse, witches! That's no bueno!"

Bloo rolled his eyes, "As I was saying, it could have something cool in it, like gold or banned spells or something. As long as you have me, you guys have nothing to worry about, so we should go get it."

"Sounds like you're in, Bloo. You don't have to come if you don't want to, Ed," Wilt reassured.

"I'll go, maybe it won't be too bad..." Eduardo confirmed with an obvious worry in his voice.

"I call first peek at the loot!" Bloo exclaimed.

"As you always do..." Wilt said while turning his attention back to the front of the classroom.

Minutes began to feel like hours for Bloo. Sitting in the chair made out of oak with the aged stone desk in front of him made the immature slime nearly insane. Words from Mr. Herriman transformed into nondescript gibberish. The objects he held up to show the class were just irregular shapes. Bloo was begging for him to finally say,

"Class dismissed."

Bloo's attention shot up. "Finally! Oh my god, today felt longer than the other days!" Bloo said while getting up quickly and heading towards the door. With his friends behind him.

"Remember to study in volume four of the spellcasting textbook over the weekend! There's an exam next week!" Mr. Herriman reminded the students as they left.

While the trio were walking outside the Spellcasting Academy, away from the building's yard, and towards the Bard Academy about northwest of it, Bloo began repeating the plan as he slid over the grass. "Okay, cool chest in a tunnel, outside village grounds, blah, blah, cool stuff, y'all ready?"

"Yep!" Eduardo said proudly, obviously faked.

"Don't get too cocky, Bloo. We might have a difficult quest facing us, hopefully the loot's worth it," Wilt said.

The gang stopped in front of a large, lush, and shadowy tree, purposely planted in the courtyard of the bard academia. The tree had many people under it, mostly young women practicing their music with a variety of instruments. The entire area was engulfed in amateur melodies, displaying their youthful and inexperienced status in full force. A distinct palm tree but birdlike creature was amongst the crowd, playing a tranquil song with a silver-plated flute. The bird happened to be one of the few who knew a good melody. After the song was over, her attention shifted to the trio when Wilt greeted her.

"Hey, Coco!" Wilt said as he smiled and approached, with Bloo and Eduardo following after him.

"Cocococococo!" Coco said happily.

"We're glad that you finally got that song down, it's beautiful! Bloo, Ed, and I were going on a quest to find a chest outside the village. Wanna join?"

"Cocococo, cocococococo?" The beaked palm tree questioned, seemingly unsure of joining.

"Billy told me about it, and-"

"Come on, come on! We don't have time to waste! Are you in or not, Coco?" Bloo interrupted.

"Stop rushing her, that's rude!" Eduardo scolded.

"Shut up, Ed! While we're sitting here talking, someone else might be-"

"Cocococo!" Coco said suddenly, agreeing to the quest and hushing Bloo.

"Looks like you're in, let's pack up our gear! Let's try to get this done before it gets too dark," Wilt ordered.

The group traveled towards the south side of the village, as the evening sun subtly beamed through their path. There it's easiest to slip out without getting reprimanded by the elders and guards, due to most of them living and working in the northern portion, the area closest to the patrolled gateway. The four sneakily stepped into an alleyway between two empty merchant posts. Darkness and old garbage were heavily present in the alley, with flies dominating the area. The party approached the tall and mossy stone wall that emcompasses and protects Mystic Mana. A pile of old dirt was conveniently stacked up against the wall, with obvious footprints leading towards and up the pile and over the fence. This area was likely a common spot for delinquents to sneak out.

Wilt threw his old and rusted longsword over the wall, with his leather pack following soon after. He swiftly hopped the barrier, his towering figure made the process trivial. A few moments passed, then from behind the wall, the others heard Wilt call out, "It's clear, y'all can come on over."

"Right behind ya!" Bloo said as he scaled up the wall without much effort, a simple feat for slimefolk. He slid on down by Wilt on the other side. Coco struggled for a second while trying to get over, but managed fine after a moment, gliding down with her wings. The last to cross was Eduardo, he was on top of the dirt pile, staring down at the three on the other side, clearly a bit nervous about the height.

"Ugh, come on already, it's not even a ten foot drop! There's also vines to help you climb down, for god's sake," Bloo mocked as Edurado flinched at the height.

"I know, I know! It's just, kinda high…"

"You're gonna be just fine, Ed. Just be careful when you drop!" Wilt encouraged.

"Cocococo!" Coco also motivated Eduardo.

"Alright, I'm coming down now…" Eduardo took a deep breath and carefully slipped over the top of the wall, hanging off the other side. "Por favor no lastimes," Eduardo whispered to himself as he let go. The ground shook a bit when he landed on his feet. He opened his eyes to realize he's perfectly fine. He was elated.

"Told ya' Eduardo, now come on," Wilt said while reclaiming his weapon and backpack. "We have to cut through the forest about east of here, so be ready for anything."

"I wonder if the forest has some foes to fight. I'm ready to kick some ass!" Bloo smiled, flaunting his believed strength. He started to quickly pace towards the forest, disregarding the direction previously stated.

"Hey! Hey! Bloo! It's not that way!" Wilt shouted.

"I'll meet up with y'all later! I'm off to find that tunnel first!" Bloo paced faster into the dark trees of the humid forest, eventually leaving the sight of the other three.

"He's gonna get himself killed if he goes alone like that, we gotta follow him!" Eduardo said as he chased after Bloo.

"Coco!" Coco began following after Eduardo.

Wilt rubbed his eyes in frustration and groaned, "Damn, if only that blue fool would listen for once…"

Wilt equipped his longsword and began running after his friends, into the mysterious forest that encompasses the village. Unsure on what to expect, or what dangers could be lurking.

Meanwhile, in the deeper parts of the forest.

Grass crushing and branches breaking where the only sounds Bloo could hear while running. He had a dagger in hand to cut through any bushes in the way, the only thing on his mind was a good fight and treasure. The evening sun was fading into a dark blue, with little to no beams of light streaking through the trees anymore. This didn't worry Bloo, not one bit. After some traveling, he found himself at the edge of a clearing. The moon was shining on a giant stone right in the middle of it, with slight foliage laid upon it. Bloo inspected the area closer, sensing something off about the area. Dismissing the feeling, he braced himself up against the stone, checking through his belt pouch and backpack. A light crossbow, unloaded, with a few arrows by it, some rations, about ten pieces of gold, a bedroll, a tinderbox, and some rope. Good enough for now, Bloo thought.

Suddenly, the stone began to shake violently, along with the ground beneath it. The sudden movement scared Bloo, causing him to fall back into the grass. The stone started rising off the ground, with dark appenages poking out under the rock. Bloo noticed one, two, three, four…No, eight legs were present. A giant arachnid revealed itself, finally pushing the stone out of the way to reveal a large pit deep within the earth. The spider crawled out, each movement making an unsettling sound of multiple legs moving at once. It appeared to not notice the slime at first. Bloo smiled, ready to take down the large beast, he equipped and loaded his light crossbow. Aiming at the spider's abdomen, he shot, and barely missed, the arrow whizzing past and landing right into the ground by the beastly spider. The sound of the arrow firing gave away Bloo, the huge spider turned towards him and pounced, slipping it's fangs into the slime's body swiftly. The fangs didn't damage him, due to how piercing objects just slip right through Bloo. While stuck in the spider's underbelly, he yelled out, "Eat this!" and casted a Fire Bolt right at the spider's eyes. The spell was successful, causing the spider to recoil off Bloo, unable to begin injecting venom into him.

The spider's vision was weakened, but it could still see it's prey. The spider got into position to pounce again, causing Bloo to dash to the right, readying his crossbow. The spider instead charged right into the slime, headbutting it. The fake out took Bloo from surprise, the impact slamming him away into the edge of the clearing, dropping his crossbow.

Something caught his momentum however, something sticky was all over the back of his body. Bloo tilted his eyes around the area to the sides of him, noticing that he was caught in a huge spider web between two trees.

"No! Damn it!" He yelled out while thrashing about, trying to free himself from the web. The arachnid approached his trapped prey and began spinning more silk around Bloo, binding him down further. Before long, Bloo was completely encompassed in thick silk, with only his face showing. The last thing Bloo remembered before blacking out were sharp fangs entering his body once more, shooting liquid into the defeated slime.


	3. All for You

_4 years ago..._

The steady galloping of hooves against the cobblestone path was oddly therapeutic for Bloo. The light breeze cooled his slimy body as he rode on the back of the horse, moving further away from the kingdom behind him, holding on to the armored man in front of him. It had to be about noon, or morning, Bloo couldn't recall. The sound of the distant echoes of nature accompanied the view to the left of him, a range of tall mountains in the distance with trees wrapping around the bottom of it, all with the colors typically associated with autumn. The range didn't distract Bloo from asking the question, "Hey, Mac, where are we going?"

"I have no idea," the young man controlling the horse said, gripping the lead tighter, seeming angry. "At least those jerks back at the kingdom gave me a horse."

"Why did they kick you out? You didn't do anything wrong, right?" Bloo asked, ignorantly.

"Wanna know what I did wrong, Bloo? I murdered a man, with this bow," Mac gestured towards the stowed bow on his back, keeping one hand on the horse lead. "My poor excuse for a brother tried to hurt you, and I went too far and killed him."

His words made Bloo feel trapped, how on earth does he respond to that? He was only a young child, twelve in fact. He uttered out, nervously, "So you can't go back, like ever?"

"What do you think happens when you kill a loyal noble of a super religious hierarchy?" Mac rhetorically asked. "I'm lucky I wasn't beheaded in front of the peasants. Instead they just exiled me out of my own home, telling me that due to the evidence, Terrence did have malicious intent, but I should've told the king first. So here I am, alive and homeless." Mac sighed heavily, "So yes, I can't go back."

"Is this because he found out I was practicing wizardry with your mother?" Bloo wondered.

"Probably, Terrence didn't want you learning how to do spells and such, since he always wanted to be a wizard himself, like our mother, but he always failed at learning, so our father pushed him to become a warrior instead. The rash idiot was jealous of you," Mac explained.

"Your mother must be shattered, her own son killing his sibling. I wouldn't wish that feeling on my worst enemy. Maybe this is all my fault, I should have never practiced wizardry..." Bloo said as he looked down.

"No, it isn't, not at all. On the day my father found you, back when you were just five, you were severely injured, traumatized, and the only survivor in the slimefolk village after the raid from the orcs. He took you in, raised you, along with Terrence and I. You were part of our family, Bloo. We used to play around in the town all day and go on quests, when before, I used to only get beaten and bullied by Terrence. My childhood was horrible until I met you when I was eight. Him and I may share the same blood, but I don't see him as a brother, and I don't see you as just a friend. You're more of a brother to me, Bloo, and I protected you like one."

Those words hit Bloo in an impactful way. Mac really does care about him, enough to even kill his biological brother in order to save his life. Terrence tried to murder Bloo by injecting poison into him in his sleep. Mac knew what Terrence was about to do, due to him discovering his diary and reading it earlier that day, which outlined the horrible plan in detail. So Mac waited until the wee hours of the night and shot him with an arrow in the back of his head before he did the deed, killing him instantly. If Mac hadn't known what Terrence was about to do… The thought made Bloo wince. "You did all of that, for me?"

Mac tilted his head back, away from the path in front of him, smiling at the slime. His eyes were glossy as he responded,

"All for you."

"Mac?"

"What?"

"I'll always be by your side, no matter what."

* * *

_The present..._

Bloo consciousness was returning, with brief flashes of light pulsating amongst the darkness. He felt strange, something was sucking fluid out of his body. It didn't feel like a sharp and aggressive spider fang though, but more like a gentle and precise...

Beak?

Bloo's vision returned to see Coco kneeled over him, her beak within his slimy body. Shocked and disgusted, Bloo attempted to recoil, but only to realize that most of his body was still bounded by silk. "Coco, what the hell are you doing to me!?"

She lifted her head and spat out some nasty looking liquid at the grass by her. "Cocococococo, coco," She explained.

"Sucking venom out!? I was poisoned by the spider!? How long have I been out? Where's Wilt and Ed?" Bloo expressed in shock and hastily questioned.

"No need to worry about us, Bloo," a voice said near the proximity, soon coming into Bloo's field of view as Wilt, with Eduardo by him, carrying a large warhammer with spider blood on it.

"We took care of that scary spider for ya'. Didn't like being near it one bit though. Extraño..." Eduardo answered, while shuddering a bit.

While Eduardo was speaking, Wilt slashed the rest of the silk that was holding Bloo's limbs with his longsword, freeing them. "We're so glad to have found you when we did, any longer and the poison would've killed you. We saw you stuck and out cold on that giant web, and tried to get you down. Then the spider came back and gave us a bit of trouble, but I had Ed take it down."

"Ah man," Bloo said as he retrieved his bearings, wiping off left over silk. "That spider took me by surprise, thanks for rescuing me I guess."

"No problem, but this wouldn't have happened if you didn't run off into the forest alone belligerently. You almost got yourself killed, man." Wilt lectured.

"I could've handled it just fine if it weren't for the damn spider's fake out," Bloo said as he turned his attention to the deep pit the spider came out of. "Hmm..." Bloo stepped near the edge of the pit, examining it.

"Hey, Bloo, you haven't told us if you're okay. You were pretty messed up back there," Wilt expressed his concern.

"I'm perfectly fine, but look at this pit... It might lead to the tunnel with the chest in it!" Bloo asserted.

"We shouldn't go in there right now, do you realize the time? It's definitely at least midnight, I'm exhausted," Wilt said to Bloo while placing down his leather pack, taking out a bedroll and an undeployed canvas tent. "Let's set up camp and explore that pit tomorrow."

"I agree with Wilt, I'm tired from running so much, especially from when I was looking for you," Eduardo said before scavenging the moonlit area for firewood.

Bloo considered just travelling into the pit alone, but then decided against it. He did almost face certain death that night already, so maybe he should listen to Wilt for once, he is pretty banged up after all, he thought. Bloo stepped away from the edge of the pit and back to the work-in-progress camp.

Eduardo placed some firewood into a neat pile, making it ready for it to be lit. He was about to light it up, but realized that he didn't bring a firestarter or knew of any fire based spells. This stumped him for a solid minute, trying to think of any way of getting the bonfire lit up. He gave up and turned to Bloo, "Hey, uh, do you happen to have Fire Bolt or Burning Hands prepared?

Bloo rolled his eyes. He raised his hands and casted Fire Bolt at the fire pit, shooting a mote of fire at the wood, igniting it into a sizable flame. "There ya' go."

"Gracias, Bloo," the monster thanked as he crouched near the fire for warmth.

Wilt and Coco sat next to the fire also, with Coco taking out her rations to eat. Wilt began to make small talk with Bloo while eating rice, "What's Mac been up to, lately? Is he on some grand adventure or something?"

"He said he'd be gone for a few days this morning back at our hut, he wanted to go find some quality arrows outside the village, since the village sells 'arrows that can't even handle cotton,' but I think he's actually trying to go find a Comet Bow or something," Bloo rambled as he ate some nuts by the fire.

"Why didn't you go with him? You always want any excuse to skip class," Wilt said with slight amusement.

"He said that he wanted me to stay at the village instead, told me to go, 'spend time with your friends,' I sorta wanted to go actually," Bloo disappointedly admitted.

"Well if you did go, you wouldn't have cuddled with the spider tonight!" Eduardo poked fun at Bloo while gnawing on beef jerky.

"Cocococococococo!" The bird teased Bloo in a playful manner also.

"I didn't expect a huge freaking spider to creep up from under a rock, gimme a break!" Bloo said while plucking a nut at Eduardo's head, hitting him.

Eduardo still laughed, even when the nut hit him, showing no reaction to the projectile. His laugh finally ended after a moment, "Anyway, I'm gonna go sleep, who's gonna take first watch?"

"Coco!" Coco agreed to being the first one to keep watch.

"Alright then, friends, ¡Buenas noches!" Eduardo announced while finding a spot to put his bedroll down, eventually finding an area with the thinnest grass to get situated and sleep on.

Wilt finished his rice and stood up, shifting his attention to how Ed retired for the night. Getting ready to do the same thing, Wilt turned his head to look at Bloo, who was still by the bonfire, "Are you gonna turn in for the night? Or did ya' get enough rest when you were knocked out?"

"I'll go to sleep in a minute, I'm just gonna sit here for a moment," Bloo repiled.

"That's cool. Make sure you get enough rest, we're going into the pit at dawn. Goodnight." Wilt said as he left to go finish setting up the tent to rest in.

What is Mac really up to? Bloo thought. The slime let his mind wander as he gazed at the stars above.

Is he really just going on a fetch quest, or is he doing something related to their old kingdom? Maybe he's actually trying to go find and talk to his mother about what happened four years ago, back when Mac was exiled. After all, he didn't directly encounter his mother during his whole trial and he didn't have time to say goodbye to her when the decision was made to kick him out.

The slime pondered as he laid on his back on the soft grass of the clearing, laying there for what felt like hours, when it was really only minutes. The stars twinkled by the radiant half moon, with sounds of the wild accompanying it. Owls, crickets, the breeze, and the fire sang their song. Bloo was in a trance.

"Cocococo?" The bird scooted over by Bloo, seeming concerned about what he was thinking about.

"I'm okay, Coco. Just lookin' at the stars."

"Cocococo, Cocococo," Coco didn't buy Bloo's response.

Bloo chuckled lightly at the response, "You know me too well, Coco," Bloo led out a deep breath, "Just worried about Mac, that's all."

"Coco? Cocococococo."

"It's nothing, just hoping he doesn't get into any conflicts on his adventure."

"Coco, cocococococo, cocococo," Coco pressed for the real worry.

"Don't sweat it, Coco. It ain't a big deal."

"Coco, cocococo," Coco was still insisting for the truth.

"It's not major."

"Cocococococo."

"Relax, Coco."

"Coco, cocococo!"

"You don't quit, do ya', fine…" Bloo started to open up a bit. "Remember when I told you guys about how Mac and I came from a fallen kingdom, when we first met?" Bloo paused for a moment, "Well that's a half truth. The kingdom we came from never fell, we just left."

"Coco, cocococo?" Coco asked for more details.

"We left due to unforeseen events. The reason why I'm, uh… concerned, is because he didn't have a chance to say goodbye to his mother. So I think he might be trying to sneak into the kingdom to talk to her, for one last time…"

"Cocococococo?"

"As of this moment, the kingdom and the two of us don't mix well. I'm worried that something bad might happen to him, and I won't know or be able to help him, since he insisted on going alone."

"Coco, cocococo."

"I know he's skilled with his bow, but I just don't like him being on his own like that. We usually go together for this sort of thing. But anyway, he'll probably be fine," the slime said as he stood up from the ground.

"Cocococo!" The bird spoke as she gained her footing also.

"Don't lose your hair over me, Coco. I'm gonna go set up my bedroll for the night, have fun with your watch." Bloo said as he left Coco, looking for a place to set up. He remembered that Wilt set up a tent earlier, and decided to go sleep in there. He walked over to Wilt's tent while gazing into the still lit fire, thinking.

Hopefully Mac's head isn't on a pike, Bloo thought as he crawled into the canvas tent.


	4. Down the Pit

"Bloo."

"Bloo…"

"Bloo! Wake up!" A voice from above demanded.

The slime rolled over onto his side, making a noticeable scowl as his eyes stayed shut, which either means he didn't hear the demand, or he just straight up ignored it. A frail hand shook him a bit, causing the blob to finally squint his eyes at the person ordering him, which was Wilt. "Gimme' a few more minutes…"

"Nah, Bloo, you gotta get up now, Ed and Coco are ready to roll. I told you last night that we were going into the pit at dawn, and it's dawn right now!" Wilt scolded as he shook the slime.

"Stop it!"

"Get up already so we can go! We must not waste too much time, we gotta be out of the pit before nightfall!"

"Ugh, stop shaking me, I'll get up!" The slime finally caved as he exited his bedroll angrily, he stood up and yawned. "Why do we have to be out by dark?" Bloo questioned as he put on his backpack and pouch.

"So we won't have to deal with anything that happens to lurk around at night. The pit is also really deep, so we're probably gonna be in there all day," Wilt explained as he exits the tent, with Bloo following behind.

Bloo noticed the scenery as he crawled out to meet Wilt. Daybreak has barely arrived, with the sun slightly raised up in the sky, radiating soft beams of light through the clearing, turning the once dark area into a warm orange realm. The birds were alive once more, singing their distinctive tune. The firepit died a while ago, leaving only an ashy patch on the ground. It was a pretty calm morning.

Bloo walked over to the other three, who were close by the pit. Eduardo was setting up, deploying a metal hook into the ground by the edge of the deep hole. Coco came over with a wrapped hempen rope in her mouth, putting it down by Eduardo. Bloo made a quip, "Y'know, I won't need that rope, I can just scale on down the hole like it's nothing."

"We know that. That's why you're gonna go down first, and place down the other hook and tie the rope onto it." Eduardo mentioned as he tied an end of the rope on the surface hook. "Should be pretty easy for ya, right, amigo?"

Bloo was obviously a bit nervous about going first, but brushed it off and snapped back, "Yeah, yeah, that'll be light work!"

"We're ready when you are, Bloo," Wilt announced as he gave an unlit torch to the slime. "Oh, and you'd have to light that up, I forgot to bring a firestarter."

"Ugh, fine," Bloo said nervously as he rolled the loose end of the rope around him.

"Here's the other hook, ten cuidado, Bloo," Eduardo said as he handed Bloo another hook for the bottom.

Bloo peeked over the edge, darkness was the only presence that he could see. Bloo was unnerved, "It's uh, really dark down there…"

"That's why you got a torch, man. Just don't get yourself hurt," Wilt reassured.

Bloo was hoping for a different response, but he went ahead and lit up the torch using a small Fire Bolt. With a lit torch now in hand, Bloo slowly began to cling to the edges of the pit, making sure to get a good stick to the earth on the sides. He began carefully scaling down the hole, with the rope unspooling from his arm and unraveling behind him. The torch lit up the sides adjacent to the slime, only showing dirt and rock. The pit took about three minutes to scale down, with a floor finally in sight. Bloo landed on the dirt on the bottom, inspecting the area. There was only an entrance to a tunnel to his left, which showed only darkness within it as well. Bloo was uneasy, he constantly checked the tunnel entrance over and over again to make sure there wasn't anything looming in the shadows. He stuck the torch into the earth and deployed the hook, tying the end of the rope onto it.

Bloo was about to yell out to his friends that the rope was good to go, but he felt that his yelling could cause a hostile to appear from the tunnel. He was conflicted, he needed to tell his friends that the rope was ready, but he doesn't want something to awaken and ambush him. He began to feel embarrassed about his fear, his friends would probably laugh at him, he thought. Bloo didn't want to look like a wuss, so he finally yelled out to signal his friends, "The rope's ready, you can come on down!" His trembling voice echoed to the surface and the tunnel, almost scaring him, as he forgot his voice would repeatedly echo. Bloo prepared his crossbow and aimed at the blackness that was within the tunnel, ready for anything that may come through. He sat like this for what seemed like forever, until a noticeable landing could be heard by him. Bloo yelped and aimed his crossbow at the origin of the sound, which was actually Wilt.

"Woah, woah, Bloo, relax, it's just me, man!" Wilt tried to calm the tense slime, who finally lowered his crossbow and breathed a sigh of relief.

"Sorry about that, it's just so quiet in here. The sound of you landing startled me," Bloo admitted.

"It's okay, man," Wilt reassured. He turned his attention towards the entrance of the tunnel. "Yep, this matches Billy's description, dark tunnel n' all."

"This is really, really freaky…" Eduardo voice said from overhead, slowly traversing down the rope with Coco above him. He soon reached the ground, "Have you guys seen any treasure yet? Cause I wanna leave this place now…" Eduardo said worryingly.

"Nope, nothing. After Coco gets down, we'll have to move into the tunnel. I'll take point," Wilt said.

This all seemed like child's play for Coco. Instead of reaching the very end of the rope, she just glided down to the floor using her wings, landing gracefully. "Coco?" The bird asked the rest of the team.

"We're fine, Coco. Let's move," Bloo answered as he reclaimed the grounded torch and handed it to Wilt, "Go on, Wilt."

Wilt took a hold of the torch and began moving into the tunnel, with the other three closely following behind. The only sounds being produced were from the party's footsteps, occasional drips, and the crackling of the torch. Wilt gripped the torch tightly, unwavered to the darkness ahead. Eduardo was right behind the red leader, showing fear with every step he took, flinching at even the smallest drip falling from the rocky ceiling. Bloo and Coco were walking shoulder to shoulder, with Coco showing no dread of what could come, but Bloo, however, was constantly checking behind him, hoping that there wasn't a shadowy presence following. Sometimes when he'd looked back, for a split second, he'd see something, a strange silhouette lingering close by, disappearing as his eyes came into focus. He came to the conclusion that nothing was there and his vision was playing tricks on him. But as the group traveled deeper into the tunnel, the young slime slowly started to become more of a nervous wreck, his breathing quickened, and his thoughts paced faster than his judgement.

Bloo's dread was stabbing him. The tunnel never changed, all of the stones' patterns looked the same, his friends were almost like the undead in his eyes, they were just walking, the same strut present throughout, almost mindlessly. The tunnel started to feel narrower, with the stone walls closing in, with no end in sight.

Eventually, the formerly rocky walls turned into intricate and intentional brick patterns, with each brick colored in a weathered brown hue, like a dungeon. This change eased Bloo's nervousness.

"I think I see something up ahead," Wilt quietly announced.

Bloo looked over Ed and Wilt with dread, and zeroed in on what appeared to be large translucent orbs with spider silk wrapped all over them, holding them tightly to the tunnel's right wall. Bloo's fear went away, "What are those? Did some kid forget their ball bag here?" Bloo said as he walked past Wilt to take a closer look.

"Hold up, I don't think-" Ed was saying before he was interrupted.

"Woah, check these out!" Bloo grabbed one of the orbs and inspected it. "Seems kinda different to the balls back home."

Coco seemed to chuckle, "Cocococo, cocococo!"

"Wait, what? These aren't play balls?"

"Cocococo!"

"THEY'RE SPIDER EGGS!?" Bloo yelled out in shock as he stumbled away from the egg sac, dropping one of the eggs. His yell created a distinct echo within the tunnel.

Coco, Ed, and Wilt all started to laugh at the slime's reaction, with all of them nearly hysterical. Bloo was cringing, hastily backing away from the sac.

Wilt finally began to compose himself and said, "Oh Bloo, I swear-"

The egg sac suddenly started to shake violently, with thousands of tiny bumps appearing across the silky surface, the sound of hundreds of eggs hatching could be heard. The entire party stared in horror at the egg sac that was about to burst, but Bloo didn't waste any time however, he shouted, "RUN!"

The once laughing party were now bolting down the tunnel in fear of their lives, with recently hatched spiders chasing them, the little demons were covering the walls, the ceiling, and the floor behind them. The babies were trying to close in on their birth meal, emitting a high-pitched hiss.

"THEY'RE GETTING CLOSER!" Ed screamed as he began falling behind the others, "Help me!" The purple beast called.

"Watch out, Ed!" Bloo warned as he prepared an Acid Splash, he started running backwards as he aimed the spell at the onslaught of spiders, getting ready to fire.

"WAIT! WAIT! WAIT! DON'T SHOOT THAT, YOU'RE GONNA GET ME KILLED, USE RAY OF FROST, USE RAY OF FROST!" Ed repeated.

"Too late! Get outta the way!" Bloo alerted as he shot a large wave of acid at the incoming spiders. The spell was successful, surprisingly, the acid covered the walls and floor, killing the closet spiders and slowing down the rest of them. Ed was unharmed and he started to catch up to the rest.

"Phew, finally you didn't mess up that spell, amigo. ¡Gracias!" Ed said.

"What, you think I was gonna screw up or something?" Bloo asked, sounding very exhausted.

"Well, uh-"

"There's a chamber door up ahead!" Wilt announced as he took the lead. "Pick up the pace fellas, there's still some spiders coming!"

"I can't run for much longer…" Bloo panted heavily in between each word, slowly succumbing to his failing stamina.

Wilt reached the door first, he grabbed the handle and swung it open and held it open for the others. "Get in!"

The rest of the party hurried in. Before the spiders managed to get in after them, Wilt closed the door fiercely, leaving the eight legged demons in the tunnel. "Welp, we can't go that way when we leave."

Bloo took a few moments to catch his breath, he quickly scanned the area while doing so, "We'll get to the leaving part later, we gotta check this place out," Bloo said as he began to investigate the place they just entered in to.

The area was a large room with a high ceiling, with lit torches clinging to the moist, dark brown bricks that create the walls. In the center of the room, there was a long, aged, wooden table with rusted silverware, cracked plates, and dusty glassware, scattered all over it. Such items disclose the area as a dining room of some sort. Strangely, there were no chairs in sight to accompany the table. There was only one other door besides the entrance they came from, it existed on the west wall of the room.

"This place is weird, where are the chairs?" Ed noted.

"Cocococococo," The winged creature pointed out three paintings on the east wall, all hanging adjacent to each other. Wilt and Coco went to go look at them.

"Huh? Paintings? We don't have time for a gallery walk, the treasure could be in the next room!" Bloo seemed very impatient, he immediately started heading towards the door to the next room. Just as he was about to grab the handle, he was stopped by Ed.

"Ay, Bloo. This place might have a history behind it, good or bad. We should take a moment to investigate this room to see if we can find out what's up before hunting for the chest," Ed commented.

"But-"

"Please, let's not be hasty," Ed warned.

Bloo stepped away from the door, "Fine. Let's just not deviate too far from our first priority, though,"

"Hey guys, do you know the language in one of these paintings? Coco and I can't figure it out," Wilt asked the other two from across the room.

Bloo and Ed stepped over to the paintings. Ed squinted at the art for a moment, "Now where do you see words, Wilt?"

"Look at the top right corner on the leftmost piece, it's in pretty small print, and it definitely isn't in Common,"

The leftmost painting depicted a dense forest scene. A large kipine was present, it sat on a thick branch, which loomed over a ravine. The kipine appeared to be stalking something out of the frame, with its face looking away from the viewer. The painting took place at night, with a full moon in the top area of the painting.

Bloo attempted to identify the language of the hand-written characters, "I think it's in Giant?"

"You mean Jotun?" Ed corrected.

"Same thing,"

"I might be able to translate it actually," Ed confirmed.

"Really? How do you know-" Bloo got cut off,

"I knew some old amigos who were giants a long time ago, before I met you guys," Ed explained as he turned his attention back to the words "Anyway, I think it's a title, it says, _'Driven out of the world above, and banished from the underworld, The Overseer stalks the beings within its territory.'_ "

"The Overseer?" Bloo repeated with confusion, "Since when did kipines get titles like that?"

"I don't think that's a normal kipine, look at the next painting by it, it seems to be part two of the previous one," Wilt noted.

The next painting, the middle one, had the scene zoomed slightly more into the kipine than the previous one. The setting was the same, except for dark clouds that were beginning to block the moon's light. The kipine's head was beginning to turn towards the viewer, and from what features were shown, its face didn't show the typical traits that kipines had. There was no beak, no eyes, there was nothing there, only a blank white void.

"That kipine is pretty unnerving…" Wilt noted.

"Creepy, the damn thing has no eyes or beak. What are these pictures trying to tell?" Bloo questioned. "Wait, I see a caption on the bottom right corner, Ed read it."

"I didn't hear please."

Bloo groaned, "Just read the thing already,"

"Not until I hear you say please,"

Bloo took a deep breath, "Fine, please."

"It's never a bad time to be nice. The caption reads, _'Without a purpose in the other worlds, the fallen celestial's only objective is to protect its treasures.'_ "

"Treasure! Now this gallery walk has my interest! What treasure is this bird defending?" Bloo questioned with clear excitement, "Maybe the next painting has a clue!"

The final painting was the strangest of the trio, the scene now only showed the face of the kipine. The white void for a face was still present, except something else was also in it, an unknown symbol was where the left eye should be.

"Anyone know the symbol?" Bloo asked, "There's another caption at the-"

Wilt shuddered and stumbled on his feet, backing slowly away from the art, he nearly bumped into Coco, who happened to be standing almost behind him.

"Cocococo!" The bird moved away from Wilt as he nearly fell over on her.

"Wilt, are you okay?" Ed worryingly asked.

Wilt regained his bearings, "I'm good, it's just the symbol gives me some sort of bad feeling…"

"You shouldn't look at it anymore. I would tell you to sit down, but ya' know, there's nothing to sit in," Ed said.

"Wilt's fine. Could you translate the last caption at the bottom left real quick?" Bloo told Ed.

" _'Those_ _who attempt to steal The Overseer's treasures will face a dangerous challenge. In order to obtain the treasure, the challenger must successfully survive three days within The Overseer's territory. The challenger must hide away from The Overseer, while also facing any foes that reside in the forest.'"_

"Three days!? That's nuts!" Wilt remarked.

"That challenge sounds awesome, defeating unknown foes while also keeping cover from the kipine seems like the battle of a lifetime, I could probably do that challenge without even using a Fire Bolt!" Bloo smugly said.

"You mean the battle of the **_end_** of a lifetime. You don't even know what's even in that forest, man," Wilt replied.

"You couldn't even handle a spider on your own, Bloo. What makes you think that you'll breeze on through?" Ed added.

"Cocococococo," Coco seemed to back up the other two's points.

Bloo pouted, "You guys just don't see it yet, I'm way more powerful than you thi-"

The west door suddenly creaked open loudly, interrupting Bloo's trash talk. A large hairy hand pushed the door open slowly. A large, glistening, iron blade in another hand came into view in the small crack made by the door.


	5. Place of Worship

"Who goes there?" A deep and aggressive voice boomed through the room.

"We-uh-we-are-uh-" Bloo failed to make a comprehensible statement to reply with.

Wilt hushly announced, "We might be in for a fight, guys."

_"Coco…"_ The bird agreed.

The entity in the doorway finally revealed itself. A tall muscular warrior with deep blue skin protected with dented stone armor, with a long fuzzy white beard reaching all the way down to his breastplate. The foe was clearly a giant. "You be outsiders then, you are trespassing, begone you must!" The warrior tightly gripped his blade, getting ready to slash the closest person, which was Bloo.

The slime narrowly dashed out of the way as the blade swung vertically, and he roughly landed by the table. The enemy attempted to cut the slime once more, following up with a downward swing.

"I got you covered!" Wilt yelled out as he dashed into action, clashing his longsword with the giant's blade. He held his opponent's sword up and away from Bloo, buying him time to escape.

Bloo scurried away from the struggle restlessly, positioning himself behind the foe. Eduardo launched over, war hammer in hand, and swung straight for the knockout. The attack was successful and the hammer bludgeoned the giant's head, a loud pound emitted from the impact. The giant heavily winced while holding his head in pain, releasing his blade from Wilt's.

Coco had a makeshift slingshot ready, she loaded a stone and shot at the dazed enemy, aiming for the head. The projectile failed to land and arched straight over the flailing giant's head and behind him, and it hit Bloo right in the face.

The slime fell over when the rock hit him, gripping his face in agony as he groaned, he scolded, "Watch where ya' aiming that damn thing!"

_"Cocococo!"_ Coco apologized.

Soon, the enemy regained his bearings, and he went for a swift slice at Wilt. Wilt attempted to block with his sword, but failed due to blocking too low. The sword gave a clean diagonal cut at Wilt's torso, and it began to bleed slightly.

"Ouch! Damn you!" Wilt cried out as he gripped his chest and backed away.

"¡Vas a pagar por eso!" Eduardo yelled as he swung his hammer once more. The giant dodged and kicked Eduardo in the back of his knee, causing the purple monster to tumble on his back.

Wilt got back into the fight and began to clash swords with the giant again. The clanking of iron emanated with precise strikes, it created a flurry of blades. The sword fight moved throughout the room, with the giant slowly gaining advantage on the red swordsman as moments passed. Bloo stood up and prepared a Fire Bolt to intervene, aiming for the giant's back.

Wilt was pinned up against a wall and was about to get stabbed when Bloo's Fire Bolt evocated, the slurry of fire beams hit the giant, he backed off Wilt and lurched away as he howled in pain. The slime didn't skip a beat, he pulled out his dagger, quickly ran and hopped onto the giant's back, sticking securely to the giant's stone armor. From there, Bloo repeatedly stabbed the giant's unprotected neck over and over again with his dagger. Blood was spilling out of the deep knife wound and Bloo stopped when the giant began gagging.

The slime jumped off the giant's back and looked back at the dying foe. The bleeding warrior was choking on his own blood, he tried to stop the bleeding with both of his hands, dropping his sword. The giant attempted to speak one last time, "T-The Over-over-seer will-will…" Those were the only words that the giant managed to say before collapsing on the floor, succumbing to the pooling blood in his windpipe.

Bloo was breathing hard, clutching the bloodied dagger, "He's done."

"Thanks for the help and good work, man. Nobody can come back from that," Wilt complimented with a grin.

Eduardo went to inspect the body, grimacing due to the blood that was still pouring out, "I'll never get used to this…" Ed began looking over the giant.

_"Cocococococo?"_ Coco asked if the giant had any good loot.

"Realmente no, the only stuff this guy has is a strange emblem, old stone armor, some rations, and three gold pieces," Ed answered while sizing up the armor. "Hmm, but his armor might fit me," Ed wiped away some blood on the breastplate and tried to slide the armor on over his head. He began to struggle as the armor couldn't fit over his large horns, and he started to force it on, which wasn't making any progress as well.

"Uh, Ed, you're doing it wrong, you're supposed to unfasten the sides and then put it on," Bloo mentioned.

Ed held up the armor and looked it over again closely, "I don't see- oh, never mind!" Ed unhooked the leather straps on the sides, and properly equipped the armor to his torso, fastening it to his body. He turned around to face the other three, smiling, "How do I look?"

Bloo laughed, "You look stu-"

Wilt quickly interrupted, "You look pretty cool, my man!"

"Really?! I mean- thanks. Y'know it's pretty hard these days to find armor that fits me so-"

"Let's move into the next room, c'mon we don't have time to waste on a fashion show!" Bloo interrupted as he picked up the rest of the giant's items to put into his inventory.

Ed wanted to continue, "But it's true-"

"Zip it. Let's go," Bloo went ahead and entered the next room.

Ed groaned, looking down. Wilt spoke up, "Sorry bout' that Ed, your previous struggles to find armor are interesting n' all, but we really need to keep exploring this place."

_"Cocococococo, cocococococo,"_ Coco backed up Wilt's statement.

"It's fine, let's just keep going…" Ed said as he followed the slime, obviously disappointed.

The next area appeared to be the main room, as it could hold around a hundred people comfortably. A long, stained, deep green rug created an aisle in the center reaching from the large double door entrance in the back, all the way to the front. Religious symbols decorated the walls, most of which were made from bronze. Dozens of oak chairs were lined up, row to row, all facing towards the front of the room. A podium made of marble stood tall amongst the chairs. A sliver statue of a kipine loomed in the high ceiling of the room, hanging right over the podium with frayed ropes. The statue matched the appearance of The Overseer.

"Huh, so that's where all the chairs went," Bloo remarked.

"This isn't just a dungeon, it seems to be a place of worship. Strange…" Wilt was creeped out by the atmosphere of the room. The room wasn't nearly as pleasant or inviting like a normal church, the area felt more devoted and hostile. Usually in most churches at the village, religious symbols and figures are always about level with the visitors, giving the area the feeling of equality and balance. This room, however, had everything hanging over the people, which was only enhanced by the statue towering over. The room was very good at making a visitor feel small.

_"Cocococococo, cocococo,"_ Coco voiced her concern about potential enemies in the area.

"You're right. There could be another giant nearby, you and I should go check around to see if it's clear in the other rooms together, Coco," Wilt turned to Ed and Bloo, "You two look for any loot in here. If things get hairy, we'll try to signal y'all. Be careful!" Wilt instructed as he equipped his longsword and began heading for one of the doors parallel to the one they came from.

_"Cocococo!"_ Coco reminded them to stay vigilant, and followed after Wilt, leaving the other two alone together.

"Looks like it's just me and you, Azul." Ed said.

"Let's start ransacking this place!" Bloo walked over to the podium and inspected it. He circled around it, and looked for anything worthwhile. "Treasure, treasure, treasure, anything valuable, c'mon there has to be something here!"

"D'ya really think there's any tesoro in the podium of all places? A chest is probably hidden in a more secure place," Ed said as he took a seat in one of the chairs.

Bloo rummaged through the podium for a bit longer, throwing aside old parchments and books carelessly, he then suddenly stopped. "Y'know you're probably right, Ed. But actually you're not because check this out!" Bloo pulled out a small chest with silver trimmings.

"Oh, wow, you found a small chest, how amazing," Ed said sarcastically. "The thing probably has an old bible in it or whatever,"

"We'll see bout' that. If there so happens to be something really cool in here, I'm not sharing it with you!" Bloo smirked, and forcefully opened the small chest.

His smirk immediately transformed into a disappointing frown. Bloo pulled out a strange hourglass. "What the?" He decided to inspect it closer.

The hourglass was about the size of a typical lantern. It had silver trimmings, similar to the chest that contained it. The trimmings had an intricate design that consisted of unknown symbols and characters. Rust was beginning to show on the bases, highlighting its age. A lot of sand was on the bottom and the passageway to the other end was very narrow, with an educated guess, it would likely take about ten minutes for all of the sand to drain downwards when flipped.

"Whatcha' got there?" Ed stood up to take a look at the item also.

"It's some old and weird hourglass. It's kinda heavy too," Bloo answered.

"Is it magical? It sure looks magical."

"Hmm…" Bloo began attempting to sense any magical energy radiating from the rusty hourglass. The hourglass had a prevalent aura of dark magic encompassing it, creating waves that pulsate through the entire room. "This thing has dark magic all over it, so it could be some kind of arcane focus, I never seen one like this before though…" Bloo shook the sand around a bit, "But we could get enough gold from this to fill a pig pen if we sell it to the right hands!"

"I don't think we can sell that within village grounds, amigo. The elders would think we're trying to practice evil magic. In fact, I don't think we should even take that," Ed said as he backed away from the hourglass.

"I'm not talkin' about selling it to a common merchant, I'm talkin' about selling it in the black market!" Bloo grinned.

"Isn't the black market for magic extremely dangerous? Mr. Herriman always told us to never buy anything from there, as the items sold could be cursed or that the sellers are evil people looking to kill and loot you."

"That's just crap that the school made up to prevent village kids from getting ripped off and crying to the elders. If you know what you're doing, you could get very powerful items or get a good fistful of coins from selling stuff. It's safe, man," Bloo placed the hourglass upside down on the podium absentmindedly, causing the sand to start counting down.

"I dunno, maybe we should ask Wilt whether or not we should sell-" Ed stopped talking when the room suddenly became dark as the torches that were clinging to walls burnt out in unison, leaving only darkness.

"What the hell? What's going on? Ed, where are you?" Bloo called out to Ed when fierce wind began to whirl around, even though they were currently underground.

"I'm right here, Bloo! I can't see you! What's happening?! I'm scared!"

"Stay right where you are! I can see well in the dark!" Bloo began to pace over to Ed, who was strangely further away from him than he was before the lights went out. Bloo noticed grass crunching and branches breaking under him, as if they were in a forest of some kind. "Okay, I'm right by you, Ed. There's too much wind to make a torch, so you have to follow my lead!" Bloo grabbed Ed's hand.

"This is so creepy! Do you see a way out? Please tell me you see a way out!" Ed was quivering in fear, gripping tightly to Bloo's slimy hand.

"There's just so many trees, I can hardly find a trail or anything. How the hell are there trees growing here in the first place?" Bloo looked around, scanning the area for some form of navigation. He suddenly noticed a silhouette lingering in the tree line. "What is that? Someone might be watching us!"

"Could it be Wilt or Coco?"

"I can't tell from here, the trees are preventing me from getting a clear view, I'm going to call out to see if it's them," Bloo took a few steps forward, still gripping Ed's hand. He yelled out, "Is that you, Wilt?! Coco?!"

The silhouette suddenly drew out long appendages from its sides, which looked like long wings. The figure in the distance was definitely not Wilt or Coco. The winged creature flew up swiftly and disappeared in the darkness of the cloudy night sky that had manifested.

"That's not our friends, and it doesn't seem like anyone friendly at all…"


	6. Forbidden Magic

The wind was getting stronger as Ed and Bloo stood in the middle of the shadowy forest. The trees were shaking violently now, which obscured their airborne stalker even more.

Ed was clinging on to Bloo like his life depended on it, he was looking around fearfully, he was trying to get a glimpse of anything that could help their situation. Ed looked to the only person that he could see, Bloo. "What are we going to do?"

Bloo was scanning the sky for any sign of the entity, even though it was futile due to the tall trees moving around. "We can't fight this thing if we can't even see it, we gotta run!"

"Run where?! The last thing we need right now is to get lost in this eerie forest!"

"Well the last thing I want is to die, so screw it, let's get moving!" Bloo dashed off into a random direction in the tree line, navigating Ed by holding his hand. In a moment's notice, both of them were aimlessly running through the forest.

"That thing is going to find us!" Ed took a glance behind him, "Do you at least see a path?!"

"Nope. But we're going to be okay, just keep running!"

"¡El tonto! You don't even know where you're going?!" Ed scolded, "For all we know, we could be running straight for another hostile's territory!"

"Shut up! Do you think standing in the middle of nowhere, waiting to be killed was a better idea? You can let go of my hand if you think so. Right now, if we can get far enough, we could lose it!" Bloo kept running, pushing away any branches and leaves that got in the way.

"Damn it, Bloo. You know we could've done this in a better way. There HAS to be a better w-"

Bloo interrupted Ed and yelled at him, "A BETTER WAY REQUIRES THINKING, THINKING REQUIRES TIME, AND WE DON'T HAVE ANY GODDAMN TIME!"

Ed blew up, "¡LO JURO, SI MUERO DEBIDO A TU INCOMPETENCIA-"

Suddenly, Bloo tripped over a rock and fell over, with Ed following after. Both of them tumbled around in the dead leaves that covered the ground, and they landed in a small ravine.

Ed slumped over, holding his left arm in pain due to him falling on it. "Ow…" He looked around for any sign of the slime, "Bloo? Are you still with me?" The heavy wind pushing against his ears made it hard for him to even hear his own voice.

Bloo was laying face down in the ground, lifting up his face after a second. His vision wasn't clear due to dirt getting in his eyes, he tried to rub his eyes to help, but he couldn't get all of it out. "Ed? Crap, I can't see, damn dirt got in my eyes."

"Bloo? Where are you?" The darkness forced Ed to start feeling around the ravine in order to find his friend, since his vision and hearing were hindered. His search was successful when he finally felt the familiar feeling of soft slime. "Ah ha! There you are!"

"Stop poking me," Bloo raised his slimy hand up, "Help me up."

Ed took his hand and pulled him up, "Are you okay?"

Bloo was fiercely rubbing his eyes, "There's some crud in my eyes, but I'm good."

The clouds in the sky parted a bit, revealing a glimpse of the bright full moon. The recently revealed light turned the area from black dark to slightly illuminated, the winds were still moving full force though.

"I can finally sorta' see, we're in a ravine," Ed dusted himself off, "Looks like we lost whoever or whatever was after us."

"Oh really? Thank god," Bloo finally managed to get the dirt out of his eyes, "Phew, at least now we can figure ou- IT'S RIGHT THERE!" Bloo promptly noticed the creature sitting on a large branch up above, looking right at the two. This time, Bloo was able to see its features somewhat. It was a kipine, with no eyes, no beak, only a white void for a face.

Ed frighteningly turned around, he struggled to compose any words in reaction out of sheer fear. But after a moment, words finally fell out of his mouth in a hushed tone, "Is that.. the kipine we saw earlier in the paintings? The Overseer?"

Bloo's words trembled, "It looks exactly like the kipine in the pictures, that's definitely it," he reached for the crossbow on his back, equipping it.

"Wait, wait, fighting it may not be a good idea right now, we don't have Wilt or Coco to back us up!" Ed was starting to freak out, his fur was standing on end.

"We're pretty much at a disadvantage right now, the thing has the high ground and it has trees to hide itself in. But the only choice we have now is to fight!" Bloo loaded an arrow into his crossbow, and aimed right for The Overseer's head. It didn't even flinch when Bloo aimed at it.

"It's not moving when you point your crossbow at it, it doesn't even seem to feel threatened," Ed nervously crouched behind Bloo, even though his giant stature could not be well hidden with Bloo's smaller physique, "I hope we're not making a fatal mistake…"

"It looks like we've already sealed our fate," Bloo pulled the trigger, and the arrow flew out of it's chamber. It was aimed straight for the winged foe on the branch for a moment, but wind resistance caused the arrow to arch towards the left, making it land on the tree trunk, missing the target entirely. Bloo was annoyed, "Dang it! The wind screwed up my shot. To hell with this forest!"

The Overseer still didn't move, it remained in the same position, unprovoked by Bloo's arrow.

Ed looked over Bloo's head, quivering, "It's still not doing anything, that's so freaky!"

Bloo lowed his weapon, "I don't think that thing even cares about-"

Without warning, The Overseer drew both of its long wings out, and it leaned forward a bit. In a moment's notice, it took off into the air. The clouds were beginning to block the moon's radiance once more.

"It has taken flight again! Get down!" Bloo went prone against the forest floor while peering at the enemy.

"You don't have to tell me twice!" Ed flopped down swiftly, he flopped down so fast that the impact of his body hitting the ground made a noticeable shake.

Bloo looked back and opened his mouth like he was about to say something, but he decided against it and returned his glance back to the airborne kipine.

The two saw The Overseer fly upward without any difficulty, even though the wind should've made flight much harder.

Bloo was confused, "How is it flying so well?! This crazy wind should be smacking it around!"

Ed was amazed, "It must be using some sort of magic. Look at it go!"

The Overseer was grazing the sky when the moon finally faded once more. Once it reached the peak of its flight, it swooped downward with sheer blinding speed, aiming straight for Ed and Bloo.

"IT'S COMING FOR US! WE GOTTA DODGE!"

Bloo announced as he attempted to move out of the way, only to then realize he couldn't, "What the? I can't move!"

"What do you mean you CAN'T move?! Get up! C'mon!" Ed was frantic, he tried to run too, but he couldn't also, "No, no, no!" His arms and legs were stuck to the ground like something was holding him down, it felt like the dirt became hands that tightly gripped his wrists and ankles, he thrashed around, attempting to free himself. "¿Què diablos? I'm trapped! Help!"

"Damn it, the kipine casted some weird form of Binding on us, It's like we're in shackles! It can't end like this, we must break out!" Bloo used every bit of strength he had, but it wasn't enough to break free.

The Overseer's sinister face was the last thing they saw before blacking out.

* * *

The sound of a large door creaking open was the first thing Bloo heard as he regained consciousness. He opened his eyes to peer around his proximity. It appears that they were still in the same room as earlier, with the podium standing by and the statue of The Overseer lurking above. Ed was lying right by him. Bloo, fatigued, stood up to go check on him.

Bloo shook his shoulder a bit, "Hey, Ed, are you okay? I think that forest was actually an illusion," the slime tried to wake his friend up, but to no avail.

"C'mon, Ed, get up!" Bloo shook a little harder, but the gentle giant remained asleep.

"Who are you?" An unknown voice appeared behind the slime.

Bloo stopped tending to Ed and turned around quickly. A hooded person was standing in the aisle of the room.

Bloo brandished his dagger, "May I ask you the same?"

The stranger hushly spoke to himself, "I knew I should've put more guards on duty…" He tilted his view towards the hourglass that was sitting on the podium, all of the sand drained down. "From what I can gather, you two seem to be delinquents, fiddling with items that aren't yours. In fact, it looks like you were fooling around with my property."

"Who's to say that it's yours, creeper?" Bloo pointed his dagger at the stranger.

The stranger chuckled, "It's maybe because I'm the leader of this church, young one, and you seemed to have just used my arcane focus. I sensed it being activated and thus led me to check here." The stranger pulled his hood down, revealing himself to be a changeling. His prominent features being his white skin and white pupils, he appeared to be in his base form. A mysterious black symbol was covering his left temple, and his albino hair was well kempt and styled back.

"A changeling in it's true form? That's pretty strange for folks of your race."

The stranger seemed offended by Bloo's statement, glaring at the slime as he spoke, "A slime of your size shouldn't even be trying to provoke me. You obviously saw way too much. You and your friend there," the changeling pointed towards the still blacked out Ed. "I would give you two the option of leaving peacefully, but due to you snooping around in my church and seeing things you shouldn't have seen, I can't let you go back to the surface."

"Why? You think I'll go rat out your stupid bird cult?"

The changeling was angered, "You do not say such vile things about our religion, our beliefs of The Overseer! You'll regret it," The changeling paused for a moment, and then smirked, "I sense some mana coming from you, you must be a wannabe wizard from some belligerent village."

"I can still burn you alive with my Fire Bolt, you pale loon!"

"Wow, you know basic cantrips, how outstanding, slime boy. You must've learned that a few suns ago."

"Don't test me, I can fight like hell!"

The changeling grinned, "Then hell is where you'll be…" He swiftly casted Mage Hand, a floating hand went and grabbed the hourglass from the podium quickly, and handed it to him. "I, Erugo, will show you how true wizardry works!" The changeling evocated a dark orb with static electricity flowing around it with his left hand, and the hourglass began to hover from his right hand. Erugo seemed to be preparing an attack.

Bloo powered up a Fire Bolt, a ball of fire began to form in his hands, becoming larger as he focused more energy into it. "Screw you and your cult! Rah!" The ball of fire became an orange beam that shot across the room, aiming straight for Erugo's chest. But the Fire Bolt all of a sudden redirected into the dark orb, and the orb absorbed it completely.

Bloo was shocked, "What the?! How the hell… What?"

Erugo smirked, "Simple spells from simple wizards," Erugo mocked, "You really think you could fire off an elementary attack like that against someone of my experience? Hmph, how bout' I'll stoop to your level and give you a fulfilling lesson on Fire Bolts!" The dark orb started to shine brightly, the static electricity on it became wilder, and suddenly a huge bolt of white fire shot at Bloo.

Bloo didn't have enough time to dodge, and the attack hit him square in his blobby body. The force of the Fire Bolt pushed him against the wall violently, knocking him from his feet. He slowly tried to stand up, but was very damaged from the attack, he managed to barely lean up against the wall. "I didn't know Fire Bolts can be that strong, in fact, that didn't even look much like one."

"Forbidden magic can make even the most basic spells far more powerful. You sheep are destined to only harness weakness in regards to wizardry. Only through The Overseer can magic reach its full potential!" Erugo instantly summoned a barrage of Magic Missiles that launched at the slime.

"I need this to work…" Bloo casted Shield in front of him, a magical barrier appeared and the missiles exploded on impact, it saved him in the nick of time. Bloo was clutching his injuries, "I should've packed a healing potion…"

Finally, Ed began to wake up, he twisted and turned for a moment, and stretched. He stood up as he was rubbing the sleep out of his eyes, "Hey Bloo, what happened? Who's that guy?"

"Your beastly friend has finally awoken," Erugo chuckled, "Bloo," he snickered, "Fitting name for a dead slime."

Bloo glared at Erugo, "That's gonna be the last name you'll ever hear," Bloo finally got his bearings back, "Ed, that guy is the leader of this stupid place, and he wants us dead."

"Oh," Ed turned around to glare at the changeling, "That's all I needed to hear, amigo," Ed equipped his war hammer, "Did the others come back yet?"

"Oh, so there's more of your friends lurking about, Bloo," Erugo laughed, "I want to keep this between you two and I." The dark orb began to produce beams that pointed at every exit of the room, the beams created magical barriers that covered entire doorways. "No way in, no way out. No reinforcements and no escape!"

"You're kidding!" Bloo turned to Ed, "How are we gonna do this without our full team? This guy is gonna be harder than usual to take down!"

Ed tightened his grip on his war hammer, "We may be strongest with all of our friends by our side, but..." Ed turned to face Erugo, "We're no less willing to fight without them!"


	7. Concurred Conflict

The conflict between the two and Erugo was about to reach its peak. The barriers blocking the exits only enhanced the brewing aggression within Ed and Bloo. Erugo lowered his arms, yet his hourglass and dark orb remained floating around in his proximity, he spoke, "Those are strong words, beast," he replied, "But I can see right through you, your aura gives away your true cowardly nature."

"You don't know a single thing about me, bicho raro, don't pretend that you can read minds," Ed quickly fired back.

"Yeah, you think you're so mighty cause' you lead some crappy cult," Bloo backed up Ed. "We're gonna make you eat those words."

Ed sharply whispered to Bloo, "Uh, but what if he can read minds? I mean, we can't tell-"

"I really, REALLY, hope not," Bloo worryingly whispered back. He then cleared his throat, "But that's besides the point, I got a game plan," Bloo took a quick glance at Erugo to make sure he wasn't trying to eavesdrop, "Okay, Ed, I'm going to rush that maniac and distract him, I need you to try and break-"

Suddenly an Acid Arrow shot right in between Ed and Bloo, making them recoil away from each other, interrupting their planning. Erugo snickered, "You really think I'd let you pathetic scoundrels coordinate an attack on me? Hmph, it's not like your strategy would have succeeded anyway." The Acid Arrow left a streak across the heightened flooring where the podium sat, the stone floor sizzled and bubbled as the acid reacted with it.

Bloo looked towards Ed, "Did any of the acid get you?"

Ed was looking at his lightly burned forearm, "A little did," he cringed a bit in pain, "It won't kill me though." He turned and readied his war hammer, "Forget the plan, let's go!" Ed dashed at Erugo and pulled his hammer back, getting ready for a big swing.

Erugo swiftly dodged, and caused Ed to topple over due to him losing his balance. He taunted the fallen beast, "Hand to hand combat isn't quite my forte, I much prefer encounters that involve mental fortitude instead of brute stren-" An arrow suddenly pierced Erugo's right shoulder, and made him instantly stop talking. He clenched his shoulder in pain, angered, he looked up to the arrow's point of origin.

Bloo was holding his crossbow with an empty chamber, grinning, "You talk way too much."

Erugo's eye twitched, he pulled out the arrow that impaled his shoulder, he groaned heavily as the arrow was removed. He threw the bloodied bolt to the side, "So we're playing sticks and stones now, hm?" Erugo casted Animate Objects, the amount of sand in his hourglass suddenly decreased to have enough to only take three minutes to drain down, "How about I add a little silver in the mix!"

The Overseer statue above Bloo started to move, the ropes that were holding it up tore as the statue's sharp wings sliced them effortlessly. With the frayed ropes cut, the silver idol began to fall, and the slime was just beneath it.

"Oh no…" Bloo attempted to move away from the drop shadow, but he couldn't escape from it in time. The statue fell and crushed the lower half of his body. But luckily, due to him being a slimefolk, being crushed wasn't instant death, however, it wasn't any less fatal though. Bloo screamed loudly as the idol pinned his lower body, "Ed, get this godforsaken thing off of me. Help!"

Ed used his hammer to help himself up from the ground, looking up, he was horrified, "¡Mierda!" Ed ran over to the scene, and he swung his hammer at the statue, "Get off of him!" The hammer dented the silver bird's head, but it didn't react to the attack.

"Your hammer won't even make it flinch." Erugo was elated, "Bringing this being to life was astute! I shall title this entity, The Silverseer! The lustrous dopplegänger of The Overseer. Prepare to bite the dust, you immature scum!"

The Silverseer finally moved off Bloo, and faced Ed. The scene was gruesome. Bloo's lower body was splattered all over the floor where the idol landed, some of his slime was even on the animated idol itself. "That hurted so goddamn much," The dying slime said with a face of anguish.

Ed began to fall apart, he dropped his hammer and ran to his friend's side, ignoring the silver foe, "No! Bloo, stay with me, you can come back from this! Please."

Bloo's vision was blacking out, he was succumbing to his deadly injury. His eyes were beginning to roll back, his body was shutting down. Darkness was encompassing the half splattered slime's spirit.

"No! NO! DON'T QUIT, YOU CAN SURVIVE THIS!" Ed tried to force some of the splattered slime back into Bloo, which helped keep him conscious for a bit longer.

Erugo led out a wicked laugh, "That slime wouldn't be a major loss, his prowess is as novice as it gets. Let that disposable weakling that fraudulently brands himself as a wizard die!"

The Silverseer grappled the purple beast with its sharp wings, the wings folded over Ed's torso and held tightly, holding Ed back from assisting Bloo. Ed went savage and thrashed around, "I'M GOING TO MAKE YOU SUFFER FOR THIS YOU SICK BASTARD! I'LL SEND YOU DOWN THE DEEPEST PITS OF HELL YOU TWISTED FIEND! YOU'RE NOT LEAVING THIS PLACE ALIVE!" Ed snapped, he violently jerked around like a rabid animal in The Silverseer's grasp. "BLOO, DON'T GIVE UP! DON'T!"

"I can't….fight it...anymore…" Bloo's soul was about to leave him.

Loud knocking was heard suddenly from one of the barriers covering the door. Bloo came back to the light to glance over, from his blurred vision and how magical barriers were slightly transparent, it appeared to be a tall red figure by a way shorter, winged figure. "It's them…" Bloo saw his friends frantically trying to enter, but couldn't. "No… I can't let them stand by and watch me drift away…but…"

Wilt was punching and kicking the supernatural barrier as hard as he could, he was putting in all of his strength to try and break it, but it was simply too solid to bust open. "Damn it! I can't get through. Bloo seems badly wounded, Ed just lost it. Coco, what are we going to do?!"

Coco inspected the barrier. She noticed that there was a small gap on the left side of it, allowing air to flow through, _"Cocococococo!"_

"How does that help?!"

_"Cococococococo!"_ Coco said as she shifted through her dainty spellbook to prepare Healing Word.

Wilt lit up, "That could work! You just gotta aim it right and Bloo might be able to survive! Hurry up and cast it. Don't miss, or else we'll be out of options to help him!"

_"Cocococococo!"_ The palm tree carefully peered through the gap, trying to get a good sight on the slime. She then swiftly casted Healing Word once she got a good visual on Bloo.

Erugo looked over to Wilt and Coco, "Are those misfits your reinforcements, Bloo?" He cackled, "One of them is missing an arm, that's comical, how can he fight for you if he's handicapped?!" Erugo was exultant.

Bloo was just about to fully succumb to death just as Coco's Healing Word was casted on him. Some of the splattered slime from the floor began to return to Bloo's upper torso, healing his damaged state moderately. He wasn't fully together though, so he was still very vulnerable, but alive nonetheless.

Ed stopped shaking around, "¡Yes, gracias a Dios! We can still win this battle, Bloo!" Ed tried to leave the grip of The Silverseer, but it appeared that it reverted back to its inanimate state while the statue's wings were still holding on to him. He began to try and bend the wings out, which was slowly working, "I'm able to get out of this thing's grasp, but it'll take a little while. You're gonna need to fight that nutcase by yourself until I'm free."

"No problem," Bloo began to slowly rise up, molding more of his slime back into his body while doing so. He took a quick glance at his allies on the sidelines and then sharply focused on the cult leader, "I'm not dead yet, Erugo!"

Erugo spun his orb around a bit, "Oh, you're about to be." The orb became frenzied, the static electricity transformed into full on bolts of white lightning that were striking the floor, "Let's see if you can handle this," Erugo casted Chain of Lightning, three bolts of unstable lightning arched across the room from the dark orb, aiming straight for Bloo.

Bloo narrowly dodged two of the bolts and was barely grazed by one, the precarious bolt left a very light burn mark on Bloo's side, he wasn't too harmed by it however. "That was close..." Bloo aimed his palms out, "Try this!" Bloo casted Acid Splash in Erugo's direction, a vicious wave of corrosive fluid pushed towards the changeling.

Erugo couldn't move fast enough for the acid to completely miss him, some of it managed to hit his face. The acid severely burned and disfigured the right side of Erugo's face. The changeling howled in pain as the acid disintegrated his eye and cheek.

Bloo smiled, "That's for nearly killing me with your piteous idol, scarface!"

The changeling's scream was bone-chilling, the sheer agony he was having as his face melted was apparent. His cries ceased as the acid started to clear up. Erugo was clutching his face as he turned away from Bloo. His hand was rubbing the fresh burn, it stinged as he touched it, he slowly tilted his view towards the slime again. The chemical burn destroyed half of his face, his right eye was now only a hole, a part of his hairline was gone, his bony cheeks were now droopy flesh. The rough scabbing of the injury contrasted his smooth skin. His twisted face didn't show overconfidence anymore, only absolute malice. His stare was unwavering, his silent anger was overflowing.

Ed was almost out of the stiff grip of The Silverseer, he looked up as he was giving his final pushes for freedom, he grimaced at the sight of Erugo's burned face, "His face is horrifying…"

Bloo was disgusted, "Yuck, your face suits your attitude now," he laughed triumphantly. He then noticed the intense aggression within Erugo, he smirked, "I guess I finally fazed ya', huh?"

"Silence!" Erugo yelled, his sharp tone pierced the room. "I've had enough of your idiocy, I'm going to end this conflict now!" The ground began to rumble violently, every unsecured object in the room fell out of place, fragments of oak fell from the ceiling.

Bloo was losing his balance, he held onto the podium, "What the hell are you doing?! Stop! This whole place could come down and kill us all!"

"The Overseer will protect me from such a fate!" Erugo affirmed.

The vibrating helped Ed finally escape from The Silverseer, but not in a very graceful manner. The wings let up and Ed fell on his face, and the earthquake kept him from bracing himself. He rolled around on the floor uncontrollably, his body was at the mercy of the earth tremors, "I can't hold on to anything, help!"

"Just hang in there! I don't know what this maniac is doing, but it has to end soon," Bloo reassured.

One by one, four stone pillars began to burst through the floor. Three of them were in front of Erugo, providing him ample cover, and one went through the middle of the room. The shaking didn't stop yet however.

"Made yourself some crude cover, huh? Let's see how long that'll-" The floor began to elevate the slime suddenly, "What the?!"

Ed was barely managing to remain on his back, there was hardly anything to grip on the floor. His flailing body started to rise as well, "What's happening?"

"He summoned pillars right under us, move it!" Bloo hastily leaped away before the pillar crushed him into the ceiling.

Ed was able to roll off the pillar quickly enough, but he accidentally bumped his head on the floor when he fell down.

Bloo landed on his side, which caused the pain from his injuries to flare up, "Ow! Of course you'd go for the cheap tactics, wuss!" he said with a cough.

The earth's rumbling ended once all of the pillars touched the ceiling. At this point, the church has faced some severe damage from the whole ordeal, which angered Erugo even further, he peaked around his cover, "Look at what you made me do to my own church! Everything is ruined!"

"Who cares? This entire place is nothing but a hole for menaces like you to rot in," Bloo expressed as he sat up. "You all do nothing but bark about some stupid fictitious bird."

The changeling growled, "Fictitious?! The Overseer is not a fabrication! You vapid children don't understand, our God is real as it gets. The spells I've presented to you two only proves the existence of The Overseer."

Ed rubbed the knot on the side of his head, "I think I'm beginning to understand what's happening here. Escucha, you're rebranding standard forbidden magic so that you can obtain followers. You even said it yourself that you use forbidden magic, so-"

"Naive children trying to explain things bigger than they are," Erugo scoffed, "How ludicrous, you clearly have no idea what you're talk-"

Ed continued, "You feed those looking for illegal powers all of these lies so that you have a group that does anything you say, through the guise of this Overseer."

Bloo simpered, "That actually explains everything. You're not tough at all, you're nothing but a power hungry fibber, Erugo,"

"I can end your life in an instant, slime," Erugo threatened as he fully left the cover of the three pillars.

"If you could, me and Ed would've been long gone by now, you're not capable enough to finish us off," Bloo replied.

"What about The Silverseer? That entity had you on death's door, if it weren't for your avian comrade over there, you'd only be a lifeless puddle,"

"Anyone can make an idol fall. That didn't display any evidence of power, it only proved that silver is heavy and gravity exists," Bloo dissed. "A spineless coward with a hideous face is what you truly are."

Furious, the changeling's frown turned into an evil scowl, "Perhaps I'd let you live for too long…" The dark orb fell to the ground and shattered, shards flew everywhere on the damaged carpet and floor. The black glass fragments evaporated into the air as a strange white ball of energy remained at the point of impact. Erugo lifted the ball of energy with his hands, he held it carefully, making sure to not put too much pressure on any areas. "If I were to compress this sphere hard enough, the energy inside of it will burst, causing a massive shock wave that will even shake the underworld. This room will cave in on the both of us, killing us instantly, ending this battle in a draw."

Bloo squinted, "So that's your last trump card, huh?" He ran his blobby finger along the empty chamber of his crossbow, "In the face of certain defeat, you consider the option that involves both parties dying," Bloo held in a laugh, "You could accept your loss and open the barriers, allowing us to leave without losing your life. But clearly, you don't want anyone to leave out of here with knowledge about this pitiful cult and your lacking abilities."

The purple beast frantically turned to the trash-talking slime and whispered, "Um, Bloo, you shouldn't be bullying him right now. He might actually be on the brink of squeezing that thing."

"He's bluffing, he has to be. I mean, isn't he too prideful to kill himself?" Bloo whispered back.

"Ay, ay, ay, this guy has been clearly out of his mind from the start. His view of pride is surely that of a madman. We should switch our efforts from fighting to escaping with Wilt and Coco-"

"STOP WHISPERING AND FIGHT ME!" Erugo violently screamed. His internal rage has now broken out of his restraint, he flung the energy sphere against the floor, he raised his boot over it, ready to stomp it.

Ed barely had a moment to breathe, "WAIT, WAIT, NO, STOP!"

Erugo, with all of his physical strength, crushed the energy sphere beneath his boot. The sphere ruptured, and the energy inside of it exploded, causing the entire room to violently shake. The sheer power of the shock wave produced completely blew off Erugo's lower right leg, and his body flew across the church.

Ed and Bloo were pushed up against the wall. The magical barriers that were blocking the exits vanished in thin air. The ceiling was beginning to crack as the rumbles raged on, support beams were failing, rubble was falling down.

Wilt and Coco ran into the room, taking note of how the room was beginning to collapse. Wilt ran over to his friends, helping them up, "Are you guys okay?! This place has a minute and a half max before it falls in on us!"

Ed coughed as Wilt helped him up, "I'm fine, amigo. But we need to leave, NOW!"

Bloo was slightly dazed from the impact, he regained his bearings, "We can't leave through the tunnel due to the spiders, we have to take the front entrance!" Bloo commanded.

_"Cocococococococo!"_ Coco complied as she got ready to run through the aisle.

"Let's book it, guys!" Wilt took the lead as he sprinted for the front entrance.

Ed, Coco, and Bloo followed, dodging falling wood beams and keeping their balance while the earthquake continued. Wilt swung the front door open and ran out with the other three closely behind. But Bloo fell behind when he suddenly tripped, he tried to stand back up, but he realized that something was holding him down. He looked back to see the fallen changeling, bleeding out from his blown off leg, with fallen support beams pinning him to the ground, which only left his arms and neck movable. Erugo held Bloo's slimy body down.

"Let me go!"

"I can't let you do this to my image. If I die, I'm taking you with me!"

"Screw you!" Bloo tried to free himself, but he couldn't escape Erugo's grasp. His grip was so tight, he even felt his fingernails digging into his body. Bloo looked up to the ceiling to see that it was about to crumble in a few moments.

"You humiliated me! You destroyed my church! You permanently crippled me!" Blood was pooling over his face as he snarled, "I HATE YOU!"

"You've done all of that to yourself!" Bloo hastily looked around, he noticed that Erugo's spellbook was in his proximity. He grabbed it and battered Erugo's bloody hand. It took several strikes for Erugo to finally loosen his grip. Bloo immediately stood back up and ran.

"YOU WILL REGRET CROSSING PATHS WITH ME FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIFE, BLOO! I PROMISE YOU WILL! YOU JUST INITIATED THE CHAIN REACTION FOR THE BIGGEST MISTAKE OF YOUR MISERABLE EXISTENCE. YOU'RE GOING DOWN THE SAME PATH THAT I WENT TROUGH, THE PATH RIDDLED WITH FAILURE AND SUFFERING. ONLY THE CURSE LIES AHEAD FOR YOU!" Erugo was livid, he abused the floor, banging it and scratching it. He glared at the slime as he sprinted away for the last time, left for dead in his own church.

Bloo didn't listen or look back, he stuffed Erugo's spellbook into his leather pack and continued running. The ceiling caved in, the entire architecture of the church has finally failed, but fortunately, the stone pillars caught the ceiling from falling in completely, buying Bloo some time. The blue slime had to maneuver around several obstacles, while also dodging falling debris. He successfully got away from the church when he left out of the front door, but the escape wasn't over yet, he had to make his way back up to the surface.

Outside of the front door was a short hallway that led to a rotating staircase. Knowing that he was pretty far behind his friends, he ran up the vibrating staircase, struggling at each step due to the earthquake. The underground section that contained the church had now fully caved in, and Bloo realized this as the descending stairs behind him were beginning to cave in as well. Will I make it out of here alive? Bloo asked himself, while dashing up the crumbling stairs. Doubt began to consume Bloo's mind as the caving ceiling got closer and closer to him. Bloo's hope dropped lower and lower as the stairs continued on, the sound of the falling wreckage kept him moving.

Certain death inched closer as time went on, and Bloo was nearly out of breath. His stamina was just about to fully deplete once he finally managed to reach the surface, he ran out of the opened doorway and fell over on his face, into the grass. He laid there for a moment, and then rolled over to get a breath of fresh air.

The sun was right above him, beaming straight down on him. The light breeze cooled his slimy body as he caught his breath. The trees gently shook around, basking in their afternoon glory. A familiar face came into his field of vision, blocking the sunlight.

"Oh my God, Bloo! Guys he made it out! Get over here!" Wilt loudly alerted the other two while helping the slime up, "Are you okay man?!"

"I'm fine, just super tired from dodging the falling wood beams and rushing up the staircase," Bloo said in between deep breaths.

Ed ran over to aid, he removed Bloo's leather pack to lessen the strain on his body, he slung over his own shoulder, "¡Gracias a Dios! We're so glad you're alive, amigo! We didn't realize you fell behind, we just kept running, we're so sorry, Azul!"

"It's alright, Erugo in his dying breath tripped me and held me down while I was trying to escape with y'all. I had to smack him a few times with his own spellbook to break loose. Right now, I'm just glad that he summoned those pillars, those things bought me some valuable time.

Coco offered Bloo a small healing potion, _"Cocococococo, cocococo?"_ She asked about the changeling he fought.

"Don't mind if I do!" Bloo took the potion from the bird and chugged it, the potion magically healed most of Bloo's injuries, putting him back to full health. He led out a small burp after the bottle was empty, "Thanks, Coco. That changeling was Erugo, he was the leader of the cult worshiping that kipine from earlier." He turned back and took a quick scan of the area. The exit for the church was disguised as a small, dingy, oak cabin in the middle of nowhere. The front door didn't lead to an actual house interior, but to a staircase that descends down to the church. The doorway was now completely blocked by rubble, preventing anyone from getting in, or out. The windows were completely boarded up, enhancing the ruse by not letting anyone see that it wasn't a normal cabin.

Wilt noticed the slime inspecting the fake cabin, "Those cult folk sure didn't want anyone getting in, Ed had to bust through the door cause' it was locked up tight."

" _Cocococo, cocococococo, coco,"_ Coco mentioned how it wasn't easy for Ed to even bust through also, as the hinges were very durable. She then went to tend to Ed's burn from earlier, taking out a roll of bandages and a glass jar of ointment. She applied a thin layer of the medicine on the injury and gently wrapped the bandage around his arm using her beak. _"Cococococococo?"_ She asked Wilt if he wanted her to treat the cut on his torso after she was finished with Ed.

"Yes please," Wilt accepted.

The door did show distinct signs of brute force, with the wood splintered and the hinges forced off. Bloo chuckled, "Those creeps were so dedicated to keeping their little club a secret, they built a whole fake cabin to trick passerbys. Really shows how dedicated they were,"

"Or how loco they were," Ed snickered a little as he looked over his bandaged forearm. Giving a small nod of gratitude to his avian ally.

_"Cocococococo, cocococococo,"_ Coco commented on how it was very eerie that they built an entire cult hideout underground. She went through a similar procedure with fixing up Wilt's cut on his torso, it just didn't involve ointment.

Wilt was amused for a moment from Ed's comment, and then returned to his normal demeanor, he spoke while patting his bandaged torso, "Anyways, we now gotta find our camp by the pit again, so we can have a starting point for our return home. Judging by the time now," Wilt paused to glance at the sky, "We should be able to get home before sunset," he confirmed. "But we should take a short break for now, considering how we had to run for our lives twice."

Bloo took a seat on the ground, "Sounds good to me," he said with a smile. He laid back in the grass for a brief moment, but sat back up when he remembered something, "Oh right. Hey Wilt?"

Wilt gave Bloo his full attention, "Yes?"

"Did you and Coco find anything cool in the other rooms? Any treasure worth keeping or selling?"

"Um, well…" Wilt trailed off.

Bloo raised an eyebrow, "Did ya?"

"Kinda, sort of. Coco and I found some more of those weird emblems. Coco found some that appear to be made of pure silver in a medium chest, and I found some in a small chest that are even made out of…" Wilt trailed off again.

"Made outta what?" Bloo asked.

"Some were made out of _ruby_ , but-"

"RUBY?!" Bloo said that so loudly, it scared away the surrounding birds. "NO WAY! WE'RE GONNA BE RICH! BILLY WASN'T PULLIN' OUR LEGS AFTER ALL! WAHOO!" Bloo was extremely excited, he was dancing in victory, "We can finally get bigger and better huts! We don't need to live in those sad excuses for homes in the slum side of the village anymore! We can stay where the rich elders live! With the soft pillows and delicious food! Mac is gonna be overjoyed when he hears this!"

Ed was laughing at Bloo's dance, "Nothing makes Azul happier than a chance to make some good coin!"

_"Cocococococo!"_ Coco also joined in on Bloo's victory dance.

Wilt wasn't excited though, "You didn't hear the caveat to it though guys, the emblems are completely embossed in cult markings, selling it within village grounds, or even in the black market, will be nearly impossible."

Bloo's smile faded away quickly as he stopped dancing, "Ah man, you're right. Damn it!" Bloo kicked a nearby stone, "There's still gotta be a way to sell those emblems, the coin we'd get from that would be too good to miss out on!"

"I know man," Wilt rubbed the back of his head, "But let's worry about selling that stuff later. Right now we need to focus on heading back to Mystic Mana."


	8. Return to Mana

It was the midst of springtime. Thin rays of light were hitting the shadowy forest floor, illuminating a small margin in specific areas. The sunlight from above made the leaves of the elderly trees glow a light green. The afternoon was still in full swing, with temperate weather and light breezes heeding the call from mother nature. The familiar crunch of footsteps crushing the grass was audible, with the snapping of fallen branches along with it.

The four party members were traversing aimlessly, with Wilt taking the lead, as usual. "Our old camp shouldn't be too far now, we're getting closer, I know it," Wilt said as he stepped over a stone.

"But you said that earlier, like an hour ago. The spider tunnel must've been really long," Ed pointed out before he yawned.

"Good ol' Wilt is really good at navigating. Trust me, he definitely didn't get us lost or anything, right?" Bloo gave a side-eye to the red leader.

The tall fighter's strut turned restless, "Nah, nah, I swear, the camp is not even a mile away, if you guys could only be a little more patient, this hike will be over before you know it," Wilt said as he sliced a few vines that were obstructing the way.

"Cococococococo, cococococococo?" Coco was growing impatient, asking the red leader if they reached their destination yet. She also mentioned how her feet were beginning to ache due to the rough terrain.

"Don't worry, we're almost there, just gimme like twenty more minutes," Wilt clearly had no idea where the camp was. He sheepishly looked side to side, hoping to find a lead of any kind.

Ed scanned the forest floor, "This hike has been no bueno so far, I can't even find our old footsteps."

Bloo groaned, "If you do find any footsteps, it'll be from us walking in circles. I've seen the same anthill like three times!"

Minutes passed and no pointers or any memorable landmarks were found. The party grew even more exhausted.

Bloo wiped some sweat beads from his forehead, "Kay', Wilt's way finding is a lost cause, I'm going to climb up a tree and see if there's a clearing or whatever," he announced before he began to adhere and scale up a random tree in his proximity.

"But-"

Bloo cut the red leader off, "It's better than cramping our ankles from goin' in circles. Just let me be the navigator for once, okay?"

Wilt led out a deep sigh, "Fine. If you know what you're doing, go ahead."

"Watch out for any creepy crawlies in the tree, they're well hidden sometimes!" Ed warned.

"Don't sweat it, I'm way more aware of any hidden spiders, due to you know what," Bloo reassured.

Wilt snickered, "Hmph, playballs," he mocked. The other two snickered as well.

The slime was irritated from the mockery, but shrugged it off and continued up the trunk.

Scaling up the tree was easy enough, Bloo stopped once he reached a high enough branch to see over the majority of the treetops in the forest. It was quite a sight, there was green stretching towards all cardinal directions, so much so that it's nearly overwhelming. When he looked down, he saw nothing but branches and leaves, he couldn't see a sign of his friends on the forest floor.

He studied the area. Ah great, the slime thought, there's no nothing for at least a few miles. Since his surveying bore no fruit after a good while, Bloo's attention became centered on a duo of ravens that were soaring in the sky, distracting him for a moment. The ravens were close to each other, one was slightly larger than the other. They flew without subordination, when one fell behind slightly, the other one would slow down, staying at the same pace together. Their flight was cheerful, which showed as they did playful twirls in the air. Peaceful is how Bloo would describe the moment, his observation continued further.

The larger raven did a final twirl with its friend before breaking away suddenly, swooping down to a dead tree, likely to hunt for food. The smaller raven now seemed uncoordinated and confused, it still flew, but it seemed like it missed its friend. It flew in circles, unsure of where to go, but eventually, the lonely raven slowly descended, and finally disappeared into a meadow. Intriguing, Bloo thought, before realizing it flew into a meadow he didn't notice before in the west. Yes! The slime was relieved, finally something, and it wasn't very far, only about half a mile. Bloo scaled back down the tree to inform his friends.

His landing caught the other three's attention as they were gathered together, likely making small talk with each other. They turned to face the wizard.

"Well, did you see anything?" Ed asked.

Bloo flicked off some leaves that got stuck on him, "Yep, there is a meadow to the west. I'm not sure if it's our camp though, but screw it, let's go," Bloo began pacing that direction.

The other three looked at each other and shrugged, they went ahead and followed him.

The group reached the meadow after a short while, but a good amount of daylight was spent during the trip. The afternoon was beginning to show its age. Bloo took a few steps ahead of the others, peering around. The meadow was rather lively. A few butterflies were flying about, complimenting the wild flowers in the area. A large fallen tree was laying on its side near the edge. "Seems like a normal meadow," Bloo signaled the others to proceed.

Ed approached the dead tree, likely with the intent to lounge on it. "Què bien, I needed a water break," he said while taking out a small canteen from his pack before he took a seat. The moment he fully shifted his weight on the bark, he immediately jumped up while holding his rear and yelped. "Ow, something poked me!"

Bloo chuckled, "What? A splinter got your ass?"

Wilt facepalmed to hide his amusement, a few chuckles slipped out however.

Ed whimpered and turned around to see what stabbed him, his face went from slightly hurt to attentive. "That wasn't a splinter, amigo. Take a look at this."

The four crowded around to investigate. Ed sat down on an arrow, which was snapped in half. The two halves were lying adjacent to each other.

Wilt was the first to start discussing it, "A single broken arrow in the middle of nowhere, odd. It might be old, who knows."

"Cocococococo. Coco coco coco," Coco was perplexed, she noted how the arrow likely meant someone was there before them, but whether it was recently or a while ago was the real question.

Bloo picked up the lower half of the arrow and examined it. The fletching was made up of red feathers, and the shaft was created from pine wood. It was simple, but of quality. These aspects seemed strangely familiar to Bloo. He dropped the piece back on the bark, "Something's…" he paused, "off..."

Ed rubbed his rear, "Could just be a stray arrow, Azul," he unscrewed the cap off his steel canteen and took a long sip. Refreshed, he went on, "In fact, it could mean people might've hunted here. Could be people from our village, those cult weirdos, or someone else."

"Hmm, possibly. Imma' look around and see if there's any more arrows, maybe we can piece something together," Bloo said.

Wilt gave an approving nod to the slime, he looked at the whole group, "Stay alert guys, seriously. With the encounters we've had lately, it's best to keep our guard up at all times. Be prepared for anything."

"Cocococo," Coco readied her slingshot.

"Entiendo," Ed kept watch for any movement in the surrounding bushes.

"Don't need to tell me twice," Bloo began his investigation. He walked around the fallen tree to examine the other side. The opposite side of the trunk was dotted with arrows, about eight total. All were intentionally aimed at the higher section of the bark if it were standing upright. Two of the arrows were shot right at two knotholes, which happened to be adjacent. Six of them went in a large gaping hole just under the two knotholes. The arrows were identical to the broken one from before.

Bloo felt even more uneasy, why would someone waste their arrows on a tree? Target practice? Even then, any rookie archer would retrieve them. Tree sap was leaking out of the arrow wounds on the tree. Peculiar, Bloo thought. The slime looked to the lower part of the trunk. The tree wasn't chopped down, its roots were pulled from the ground, and the ends of the roots were very sharp, almost like claws. There were only four outstanding roots, two in the front, and two in the back. Almost like legs-

"It's a dead tree mimic," Wilt suddenly said by the pondering slime.

"How did you come to a conclusion so fast?" Bloo questioned. "I was just about to connect the dots-"

"Knew it as soon as I saw the four legs. C'mon man, you know real trees don't have those stubby roots, they wouldn't be able to grow if they did. Normal trees have super long roots that spread and go deep in the soil," Wilt explained.

Bloo sighed, "Okay Plant Man, I get it. Someone took down a tree mimic. I wonder who though?"

"At least they took it down for us. But anyway, that's the reason why there's arrows, so we can probably get moving now," Wilt said before he stretched.

"Okay, but gimme a few more minutes, I'm taking these arrows, they're still good," Bloo replied.

Wilt's neck gave a small pop as he cracked it, "Aight, knock yourself out. After you're done, we'll continue on down the meadow," he said before walking away.

Bloo glanced at the red leader as he moved away, he wondered what Wilt was thinking about during this entire quest, but the thought waned as he remembered what he had to do. Bloo gripped one of the arrows and pulled, it took a fair bit of strength, but it came out after some convincing. Once the arrow was out, Bloo noticed something about the tip of the arrowhead, it had a crude 'M' carved into it.

The realization hit Bloo's mind. He knew exactly who shot these arrows, and even who crafted them.

It was Mac.

So many questions were now entering Bloo's mind. Why was he here? Why did he leave his arrows? Did he face this mimic not long ago? Is he okay? Where is he now?

Bloo decided to call everyone over, "Hey guys, could you come here a sec?" He yelled.

The others came over, curious about why the slime called for them. "What's up?" Wilt asked.

"These arrows belong to Mac, he was here," Bloo answered.

"Señor Mac was here?! No way!" Ed said.

"Yep, no doubt about it."

"Cocococo, coco?" The palm tree asked how Bloo knew it was him.

"The arrows got an 'M' carved into them. It was oddly familiar due to the red feathers at first, but that combined with the "M" gave it away. He must've gotten into a fight with this tree mimic and left his arrows in it, which he never does," Bloo answered while pulling out the rest of the arrows and inserting them into his quiver.

"If that's the case…" Wilt kneeled down to the dead tree mimic's mouth, he inserted his only hand and felt around for a moment. Several flies flew out. "He was here yesterday, maybe at noon. The tongue is still fresh and the flies have had plenty of time to make a picnic." The smell of rotting flesh assaulted everyone's noses.

Ed was noticeably disgusted and grimaced as Wilt touched the deceased mimic. "Ay, gross! Get your hand outta there. Ugh, you're gonna make me throw up!" Ed said while gagging.

The young wizard fanned away the horrible odor, "Yesterday, at noon, huh? Hmm..." Bloo glanced up into the sky, thinking for a moment, "He left in the morning before I went to class. Maybe we can check if he's nearby?"

Wilt pulled his hand out of the mimic's mouth. His hand was covered in saliva and other nasty fluids, disgusted, he wiped it away in the grass thoroughly and turned around, "Didn't you say he's on a big adventure? He's probably long gone by now, man."

Bloo looked down and sighed, "Yeah, you're right. He moves around so quickly, he's probably not even in the forest anymore. Hopefully he didn't get chased by someone,"

"Well, it would explain why he didn't take his arrows. He could've got mixed up with a werebear or some other monster and ran. While he was running, he must've bumped into the mimic and put it down in a hurry," Ed explained while plugging his nose.

"That's probably what happened, but anyway. If Mac was here yesterday, we're likely not even a mile away from home. So let's get moving down the meadow, please," Wilt said as he walked a few feet, stopped, and gestured for everyone to follow his lead.

"I'm coming…" Bloo said, obviously disappointed.

Ed closely followed Wilt down the meadow, with Coco and Bloo hanging back behind him. Bloo wasn't fully ready to let go of the situation, his mind was still trained on it. Coco was concerned about the blue slime, noticing how he kept looking behind him to look at the scene.

Coco stepped closer to the slime, and brushed her wing against him to get his attention. Bloo tilted his view towards her. She whispered, "Cococococo, cocococo co co. Cocococococo cocococo coco." She said it's perfectly fine to be worried about Mac, as the journey he's going on will likely be dangerous, remembering what he told her. Coco comforted the slime by reminding him how Mac is not only a good fighter, but an analytical individual too, he wouldn't pick a battle he couldn't handle. She wanted him to think positively.

Bloo's spirits lifted up a little, he whispered back, "Thanks, Coco. I kinda needed to hear that…"

The avian bard smiled, "Cocococo, co co cocococo," she told him to focus on what they're gonna do once they get home instead, like figuring how to sell the ruby emblems.

"Well that might be its own quest entirely-"

"I see a path at the edge of the meadow up ahead, the village must be this way!" Wilt suddenly announced.

"A path?! Wait, I thought we were looking for our old camp, what about the bedrolls and the tent?" Ed noted.

"Sorry, Ed. But I don't any of us think it's worth going back for those, we have another set back in our hut anyway," Wilt said.

"Oh we do. Forgot about that," Ed replied.

The party followed the path, which led them back to the large clearing which nested the entirety of Mystic Mana. The familiar mossy, vined walls and large gate were a sight for sore eyes. Evening was the current time, as the sun crept just over the dark trees, the sky was a subdued orange. The four peaked out of the tree line.

"Finally, we're home!" Bloo breathed a sigh of relief.

"Thank goodness, I'm starving!" Ed said as he rubbed his grumbling stomach.

"Dinner sounds so good right now, man," Wilt's mouth watered. "Y'all know the drill, we gotta walk around the perimeter of the village and get to the spot we sneaked out from. We don't want to sour the end of this adventure by getting caught by the guards, so stay out of sight," Wilt commanded as he began to sidle around.

"We know already, geez. You don't need to tell us every time we sneak back in," Bloo complained.

Wilt chuckled, "I know, I just want an excuse to say 'y'all know the drill', I love saying it."

Coco scoffed, "Co..."

"I like when Wilt says it. To me, the quest is never complete until he says it," Ed admitted.

Wilt grinned, "At least someone understands."

Moving around the patrolled areas was second nature for the party, the hot spots with the most security and riskiest zones were well known, so they successfully reached the spot they sneaked out of in the first place, at the south side of the village. They swiftly dashed over to the stone wall, which notably had the least moss on it, due to the years of delinquents' boots kicking off any that were attempting to grow as they climbed up and down. But the vines still grew fine, as those were useful when climbing back up.

Wilt climbed the stone wall without issue, he checked to see if the area beyond the alley was clear, and returned to help his friends over, namely Ed, as he was the heaviest one. Everyone climbed over without too much of a hitch. The party emerged outside of the foul alleyway, between the empty merchant posts.

The party began to move through the south side of the village.

It was business as usual for the poorer side of Mystic Mana, with dozens of merchants selling fruits and vegetables, rations, low quality weapons, farm seeds, amateur potions, pottery, and homemade items like knitted blankets composed of old rags and shirts, anything to make money. Many races, common, uncommon, and unique were present, it was a melting pot. The homes were in disrepair, with cracked, weathered oak planks being the only barrier from the elements, some even had no windows. A few children were playing in the streets while their parents sold goods, kicking around an old ball and roughhousing. What the south didn't have in money, it made up with spirit. Arts such as paintings were regularly presented and sold frequently to passersby from the east or west. Performances involving flashy magic were done by retired or decrepit wizards to kill time and distract the villagers from their stressful days.

The four kept walking through, heading towards a different part of the south. They were going towards the huts given to discharged orphans.

For decades, one of the biggest issues in Mystic Mana was how hard it was for orphans to get adopted. Most villagers didn't want to adopt a child who were a different species than them, fearing they wouldn't be able to raise them properly, as not being able to provide for those requiring a variety of distinct needs. Thus, few generations were left to fend for themselves. The orphanage was always at maximum capacity, so the lead caretaker, Master Frankie Foster, had to lower the age of discharge from 18 to 16 to free up valuable space. With the policy in place, the orphanage had to remove the children who had reached or long surpassed that age..

When the rule was first instituted, the orphaned teens crowded the streets, homeless. Due to this, a law was agreed upon and established by the leader of the village, Grand Elder Foster (who happened to be Frankie Foster's grandmother), to give the discharged a simple hut and a small monthly allotment of gold to keep them off the streets. An entire district of subpar, cramped huts were built to give the discharged youth a chance to flourish. This came with some success, and it kept the teenagers from being beggars.

In the present, a tight-knit community still lives on. Orphans from all walks of life stay close, as their peers were often the closest form of family they had. The elders had turned their backs from them, so they had to be there for each other.

The party finally reached their huts. This specific sector of homes were arranged in a circle, with a single dirt path leading out of it. A worn, but functional well stood in the center of the circle, with a dented bucket hanging over the hole. Bloo lived with Mac, they had a hut alone together. Wilt, Ed, and Coco lived in a separate hut that was right next door to Bloo's.

Wilt checked his rickety mailbox, "Nothing new today," the mailbox creaked when he shut it. He turned to the slime, "Hey Bloo, you can eat with us tonight if ya' want. I think it's Ed's turn to cook," Wilt offered.

"Cocococo," the bard backed up Wilt's offer.

"I'm good guys, I just wanna sleep for a month right now," Bloo turned down as he checked the mail, finding one letter addressed to Mac.

"I'm making gumbo tonight, which is far more delicious than the boring rations we've been eating. You sure you don't want in, amigo?" Ed asked.

Bloo shut his mailbox, "I'm not super hungry for your gumbo, a bit of rice for me will be plenty," Bloo approached his door, before he unlocked it, he looked over to the others, who were just about to enter their hut, "We'll discuss-" Bloo sharply paused, and glanced around for any eavesdroppers, the area was clear as most of the residents were inside for dinner, he covered one side of his mouth from the open, and he continued in a hushed tone, "We'll talk about the 'loot' we got tomorrow, okay?"

The other three nodded in agreement. Coco smiled, "Cocococo!" She said goodnight to the slime. The other two did the same.

"¡Buenas noches, Azul!"

"See ya' tomorrow man."

Bloo grinned, "Later guys," he said before he unlocked his door and entered his hut. Retiring for the night.

The main room was dark as Bloo slung his gear by the door. He approached the dining table to place Mac's letter down. The table also housed the lantern, a worn tinderbox laid by it. Using the equipment in the box, he lit the lantern up to illuminate the room. Bloo yawned as he rummaged through the pantry, pulling out a sack of plain rice and a ladle. Being at his lonesome wasn't unusual, he was used to the silent atmosphere in the hut when Mac was out and about. He poured the rice into the pot of water that hung over the fireplace in the corner of the room, he got lost in thought as he cooked.

He was thinking about the adventure he just had, the loot he and his friends had gotten, how they were going to sell said loot, when he remembered something.

He still had Erugo's spellbook in his bag.

The thought of throwing it in the fire he's using for the rice was the first thing that crossed his mind, as the spellbook only contained troublesome contents, selling it, even just being caught holding it would cause him to get lynched. The forbidden magic in it is not worth the trouble to sell, he thought. Its destruction is the easiest way to get the book out of his life.

But then he remembered something the deceased changeling said in their encounter.

"Forbidden magic can make even the most basic spells far more powerful."

Erugo's words echoed in Bloo's mind as he stirred the rice. He knew Erugo was a fraud in regards to his cult, but his magic was very real, he saw the power of it with his own eyes. The Fire Bolt the changeling shot at him knocked him straight on his ass and nearly ended him right there, he thought. During the whole fight, Erugo seemed to be holding back his full potential, likely due to severe cockiness. But if Erugo used the power he showed when he made that enhanced Fire Bolt, the battle would've likely concluded with Bloo and Ed murdered. His arrogance made him fail.

Bloo let the rice simmer as he stepped away and unzipped his leather pack. The spellbook sat in there, with a dried blood stain on one of the edges. The wizard hesitated for a moment, he felt too exposed, but realized why after a moment, he almost forgot to close his curtains. After pulling the raggedy cotton sheets together, he continued, he took the book out and laid it down on the dining table, he sat down to take a closer look.

The slime was rather shocked with how the illicit spellbook appeared, it didn't look anything like how the elders would describe them as. But then again, they'd always over exaggerate and lie about these things, he remembered. The book didn't look intimidating or off-putting, it looked identical to a normal spellbook, except darker leather made up the cover. Bronze trimmings decorated the book, making it shine dimly from the lantern's flame. The book had a lot of wear, insinuating that it's decades or even centuries old. A deteriorating clasp held the book closed. There wasn't any disturbing imagery on it. The title wasn't quite like one would expect from an illegal text, it simply read, The Book of Enhanced Spells.

Curiosity stabbed Bloo in the chest, his blobby hands were in place to open the clasp and flip the front cover over, ready to read the first page. But his better judgement made him think twice. He recoiled from the book like it was an open flame, standing up from the chair. He stared at the spellbook down, his mind was completely split.

Read it, one side of him recommended, it's just a book, the elders are full of it when they say it'll make horrible things occur.

Destroy it, the other side of him demanded, whatever contents that spellbook contains, reading it might be a mistake that'll last a lifetime.

Both of these opinions clashed, countering each other. Bloo had no idea what to do with it. He wanted the knowledge within it, but he didn't want to risk anything unfortunate happening to him.

Bloo sighed as the rice began to bubble. Unable to reach a solid decision, he inserted the spellbook back into his bag, with the thought that he'll know what to do with it in the near future.


	9. Do I Know You?

The shine of the emblem was attractive, as it played off the thin rays of light entering from the window. It was solid, weighty, and fit perfectly in Bloo's grasp. He playfully tossed the emblem from one hand to the other, disregarding how dropping it could damage it. The only thing on the slime's mind was the riches.

Glimmers of red and white highlighted the small picture of the fictitious Overseer inscribed in the ruby, along with text which wrote, _The Overseekers._ What a phony, Bloo thought, Erugo even went through the effort to ruin and deface precious gemstones for his cult. Bloo caught the ruby in his palm one last time before he stuffed it into his bag, placing it by the five other identical rubies that were already in there.

"So..." Bloo closed his bag up and turned to the dining table, which Wilt, Ed, and Coco were eating pancakes at. "Anyone have any ideas?"

The clanks of plates and forks became less amplified when Ed stopped eating, "Ni idea, Azul. How bout' we finish our food before we think. You haven't eaten anything since you came here either. Come and eat, we have more pancakes, amigo."

Ed was right, Bloo was starving. Considering how he rushed over to their home as soon as he woke up, Bloo completely forgot about making breakfast for himself. Bloo clutched his grumbling stomach, "Pancakes do sound good right about now," he said just before he grabbed a chair and claimed a spot on the dining table.

"Syrup?" Wilt offered as he slid Bloo a plate of pancakes.

"You already know, man."

The red leader grabbed a pitcher and poured it on Bloo's pancakes, changing the plain breakfast to a more interesting dish. The syrup spread all over the stack, overflowing down to the plate. Bloo began to dig in, stuffing his face full.

Ed grimaced at Bloo's rudeness, "Could you show some table manners, please?"

Bloo wiped away syrup from his mouth, burped, and replied, "Don't get on me, you don't want to see me go from hungry to hangry."

"Hangry? What does that mean?" Ed asked.

_"Cocococococo, coco coco coco,"_ Coco explained what the slang meant, giggling at the childish nature of it.

The gentle monster snickered, "That's a funny word."

Wilt chuckled, "That's new. Never heard of that one before," he took his final bite, "Sounds like something Cheese would say."

"Don't bring up that idiot, let me enjoy my breakfast without getting flashbacks of his antics," Bloo said as he rolled his eyes.

"Speaking of cheese," Wilt placed his silverware on to the now empty plate, "Before we plan on how to sell the rubies, we oughta head to the shops. We're running low on beans, we're out of cheese, the candles are spent, and my longsword needs repairs."

Bloo groaned, "Aww… Errands?! C'mon any second we waste now could lead to missed chances of selling the gems."

"You're exaggerating. Regardless, we need to do our chores before we get to the good stuff, my man. We can split it four ways, one person does one thing, another does something else, and so on. We can get this done before noon, easy," Wilt said as he wiped his dirty dishes clean before placing them back in the cabinet.

"But the rubi-"

"Ah ah ah, we gotta get our responsibilities done first. Besides, who wants to be counting coins in the dark anyway?" Wilt silenced the slime, "I'm fixing up my sword, Coco gets the beans, Ed gets the cheese, you have to get the candles Bloo."

Bloo groaned and sank in his chair, the last thing he wants to do right now is a boring errand. "Ugh, screw it. Fine, I'll do it."

"Great! Just make sure to get a good deal, some of those shops sell some with crappy wax for like five gold."

"I'll go to that stand with that one old lady, she always gives me a low price if I ask her nicely, and they're fairly serviceable..." Bloo's indolence was apparent as he slowly made his way to the front door while hanging his head back unenthusiastically, moaning and groaning at each step. "I'll get this done in a flash, I bet I'll be the first to return in fact," he said as he put his pack on.

"Did you just say bet?" Ed asked before he took his last sip of tea from his mug.

"You _bet_ I did"

"Chico, we can make this a bet."

"I'm listening."

"How about this, whoever is the first person to return home, the others have to give them 15 silver _each_ ," Ed challenged.

Bloo's grin grew and his eyes narrowed, "I'm in."

Ed turned his head towards Coco and Wilt, "How about you two? You guys wanna join in?"

A thick silence in the air was present briefly before a response was made.

"Yea, sure-"

_"COCO CO!"_ The bird sharply interrupted Wilt with her confirmation before blotting out of the front door, getting a head start on her errand immediately.

Bloo was shocked by her quick exit, the wind from the door getting forcibly opened grazed Bloo's face. He stood for a second, surprised, and then snapped back to the objective. "Well we're not gonna let her win, right? Let's go!" He said before running out himself.

"¡Àndale, Wilt!" Ed hurriedly followed after the slime, leaving Wilt alone in the hut.

Wilt smirked as he saw the others leave so quickly, "We'll never grow out of this, huh?" He said to himself before calmly exiting last.

It was still early for the village, most merchants were just beginning to open up their shops, and many children were still taking advantage of not having to wake early for school over the weekend, sleeping in. The rhythm of wind chimes enhanced the morning ambiance, along with the shuffling of the distant trees. Mystic Mana was still getting the crud of its eyes when Bloo suddenly came speeding through. The sheer speed he was moving at knocked hanging clothes off their lines, the dust cloud that emitted from his sprint made the villagers reel back and cough. The slime was determined to reach his goal, nothing could seemingly slow him down. Until a claymore flew in front of him and pierced the dirt, creating an obstacle. Bloo didn't notice the giant sword that landed in front of him before he slammed face first into it, knocking him down.

Bloo laid on his back as he held his face in pain, cursing under his breath.

"You sure weren't moving that fast when I asked you to come sit by me during lunch last week," A young feminine voice behind him complained.

The slime stood up and turned around to see who placed the sword, "Ugh, whoever did that is gonna get the front seat to a major ass whoo-" He stopped talking once his view was fully focused on the owner of the voice. There stood a short girl with a complexion of pink ruby. Little tufts of hair stuck out of the top of her head, which were reminiscent of short pigtails. Bloo stared at the girl, not saying a word.

"Front seat to what? You couldn't stop for a sec to come say hi to me, you ran right past me! What do you have to say for yourself Bloo?" The girl said with a scowl.

"Um, I, uh, I…"

"What now?"

Bloo looked to the left, avoiding eye contact with the girl. He had a hard time connecting a name to the face, and the face was only slightly familiar. He didn't want to ask what the girl's name was, to avoid ticking her off further. "Uh, I guess I didn't see ya, my bad, err…" Bloo squinted, he was still drawing blanks on who this person was. "If you'd excuse me, I'm a little busy right now-"

"What's my name?" The girl quizzed, still training her hard scowl on the slime.

"Huh?"

"WHAT. IS. MY. NAME!" The aggression increased tenfold, her scowl was now accompanied by a toothy frown, showcasing her fangs.

Bloo flinched at her sudden volume, scared, he went with the first guess he could think of.

"Heather?"

The girl was silent, shocked by how horrible his guess was, this silence didn't stay for long however. "MY NAME IS NOT HEATHER, IT'S BERRY. BERRY, BERRY, BERRY! YOU'RE TALKING TO BERRY!" She was stomping the ground violently as she ranted.

Bloo swore she grew horns for a moment. "Oh, Berry! I'm sorry, I have a memory of a goldfish, y'know. Sorry for the mistake!" He said while backing away slowly, trying to find the first opportunity to escape the situation.

Berry stepped closer, "We planned to go stargazing last Friday, I went to your hut. YOU WEREN'T THERE!"

"Oh, we did?" Bloo couldn't bring to memory any past plans with her at all.

"Remember when I passed you a note during Magic History class on Thursday? Remember what I asked, remember what you answered? Not only answered, but PROMISED?!"

"I recall no such thing-"

Berry pushed a crumpled parchment in Bloo's face, which fell on the ground. He looked down, "The hell is that?"

"READ IT."

Bloo kneeled down and picked up the note, he uncrumpled it and flatten it out. Inside, the note had fancy cursive near the top that read,

_"Would you like to go stargazing with me on Friday, Bloo?"_

Just below that line, in crude handwriting, laid a reply,

_"okay"_

_"Do you promise?"_

_"yes"_

_"Great! I'll come to your hut that evening, is that fine with you?"_

_"yes"_

"I ain't write that," Bloo said.

"I know your handwriting down to the pen strokes. You failed to keep your promise!" Small cracks in the earth began to form around her.

Bloo eyes widened, "I'm sorry, my friends decided to go adventuring that night. Y'know I can't pass up a chance to get some cool loot-"

Berry pulled the claymore out of the ground with ease, even though the sword should practically outweigh her. She pointed the sword towards the slime, and growled.

Bloo became even more nervous, "Look I'm sorry! Please don't-"

Suddenly, Berry's fury vanished, and she made a large smile while closing her eyes, tilting her head to the side. "It's okay, I forgive you!" She unequipped the giant sword, placing it on her back. The sword was half a foot taller than her, so it looked very unusual when she had it stowed away. "Just don't do it again, kay?"

The sudden change in tone surprised Bloo, "...You're not angry anymore?"

"Nope! When was I angry?"

"Huh? Wait, err… Never mind. I'm running some errands right now, guess I'll get back to that-"

"Can I tag along?"

"NO!" Bloo said sharply, before realizing the tone behind it could set her off again, "I mean, you probably shouldn't, I'm just doing some super boring stuff-"

"You were rushing through town because you had to do super boring stuff? That sounds berry suspicious…" Berry said.

Bloo was messing up his lay it on easy approach, "I just wanted to get it done quickly, that's all."

"Hmm…" Berry put a finger on her chin, staring hard at the slime, Bloo gulped. "...Okay, the story checks out. See you tomorrow, Bloo!" Berry waved goodbye before walking away. She turned around when she was about a few feet away from the slime and blew a kiss, causing him to grimace hard.

"She's gonna be the death of me..." Bloo said to himself before returning to his objective. He lost a lot of time from the encounter, and became very frustrated, clenching his fist. The old lady's stand is too far to reach quickly now, he has to buy candles from a closer shop, Bloo thought. He quickly scanned the area, seeing mostly homes and few stands. Finally he noticed a small stand with an elf behind it, who appeared to be selling tinderboxes and lighter fluid. It'll suffice, Bloo thought to himself.

The elf appeared to be taking inventory in a small book as Bloo approached, at first, the elf didn't notice him at first, with his back facing the slime.

"Hey, do you sell candles?" Bloo asked, capturing the merchant's attention.

The elf's long ears moved when Bloo first spoke, he turned around and closed his book, "Yes we do! Would you like to purchase some, young wizard?"

Bloo's cloak gave away his specialty. "Possibly, how much for a medium batch of one ounce candles?"

"That'd be about five silver."

"Five silver?!" Bloo was shocked, "For a medium batch? Those only have like eight candles in it, why is it five silver?"

"Well…" The elf merchant scratched his balding head and looked down, "That's the market price now, since there's a shortage going on. We have little stock."

Bloo raised an eyebrow, "A candle wax shortage? What the hell?"

"I heard rumors that there could be a thief stealing wax straight from the locked boxes in unsupervised stands, which may explain it, as a good portion of my stock just disappeared without a trace a few nights ago."

Bloo narrowed his eyes and stared hard at the merchant, "I'm sensing some deception here."

A bead of sweat formed on the merchant's forehead, he gazed past the slime, "What?! How could you think that, I'm no liar."

"Then why won't you look at me in the eye?" Bloo leaned closer, closing the gap between him and the elf, "I haven't heard a lick of info about a wax thief all day, let alone all week."

"Well, mayb-"

"I'm done with your crap. Fifteen copper for the candles, take it or leave it."

The merchant frowned and was silent for a moment. He then led out a deep sigh, "Sure, I'll bring it up to you…"

"That's what I thought. You're a terrible liar, so quit trying that dishonest salesman crap around me, or next time the candle wax thief will be far from a lie," Bloo threatened as he readied his copper, taking a handful out of his belt pouch.

"Here," The merchant dropped the sack of candles on the counter, "I see you're no fool, a rarity for folks of your age."

Bloo rolled his eyes, "Yeah, yeah, I'm not shopping here again," he threw the copper down on the counter, grabbed the sack, and paced away. The copper didn't even finish spinning on the counter before Bloo was completely out of sight.

The streets were becoming more lively as Bloo made way back to his friends' home. Profanity was hidden under his breath as he walked around passing crowds of villagers. Thoughts of the loss he was gonna take once he returned clouded his mind. Coco has likely been home for a while now, he thought as his frown became more prominent.


	10. First Place

Just as expected, Coco was lounging in the corner when Bloo returned to the hut. He closed the door behind him. Peeved, he wore the face of a sore loser. 

"Lemme guess, you've been sitting there for a while now…"

The bird smiled, _"Coco, coco, coco."_

Bloo groaned, "12 minutes? Well, good for you, I guess." Bloo placed his leather pack down on the floor. Expletives were spilling out of mouth as he went to take a seat at the dining table, he placed the sack of candles on the table before sitting. "Damn Berry got in the way, stupid merchant tried to swindle me. I can't catch a break, if I wasn't held up, I'd be the one grinning triumphantly right now," the slime complained as he rubbed his eyes in frustration.

_"Cocococo?"_

"Yep, that pink girl from school threw down a freaking sword to stop me in my tracks, all to tell me about some crap I don't remember," Bloo rubbed his forehead, "I guess we’ll wait for the others, those slowpokes…"

Coco shuffled a bit in her nest in excitement, she couldn't wait for the payout. _"Cocococo, cocococo?"_

Bloo raised his head up, "No I don't like her, but she's obsessed with me, which is creepy." 

_"Cocococo… Co?"_

"I. Do. Not. Like. Her. Period. She's nuts. She transforms into an absolute hellspawn even if you tick her off slightly," Bloo said firmly, planting his fist on the table. "Now don't you doubt that."

Coco narrowed her eyes at the slime, and a smug smirk formed on her beak. _"Co...cocococo…cocococo."_

"Whaddya’ mean it sounds like something someone hiding their true feelings would say?! Are you deaf? I clearly said I don't like her, not one bit!" Bloo affirmed with a sharp growl. 

A chuckle came from the bird, almost in a taunting manner.

The slime rolled his eyes and placed his unloaded crossbow on the table, grabbing a nearby cloth to wipe off any grime that could hinder the mechanisms within it. He pulled back the string of his crossbow and played with it, passing the time. 

The next person to return was Ed, with his entrance being obvious. A consistent pattern of huffs, puffs, and heavy footsteps could be heard even before he entered the main room. Eventually, the door finally opened, and an exhausted beast fell out onto the oak floor. 

"Ed, holy hell, you good?" 

Ed lifted his face off the wood floor, "I… got… the… cheese…ah man…I'm too…late…" The beast paused after each word to catch his breath, "I...ran...back…" He said as he placed a block of cheese wrapped in brown paper on the floor.

"Sheesh. Coco, get the big guy a cup of water, he's sweating rivers!" Bloo requested, while running over to tend to his friend, helping him up to his feet.

_"Cococo!"_ Coco ran to get some water for the worn out beast.

"I'm fine, amigo… Just gotta lay down for a sec," Ed said while moving towards the bedroom. 

Bloo paced over to support him while he walked, letting Ed lean on him. "Easy there fella, if you fall over you'll crush me!" Bloo said while he and Ed entered the bedroom. 

The bedroom was shared between Wilt, Ed, and Coco. The sun gleamed through the square window, highlighting the circular rug in the middle of the room. A large bunk bed took up a large portion of the northeast corner. The top bunk was in a state of severe disrepair, with the wood planks showing deep cracks and bends, likely from accommodating Ed's heft for years. The bottom bunk was in better condition however, with the architecture still sturdy and the bed sheets tidied, definitely Wilt's doing. Coco's nest was in the opposite corner, with twigs and leaves creating the structure. A small bookshelf was placed under the window, accommodating for at least a dozen dusty books. 

Ed climbed up into the top bunk, breathing hard. "Gracias, Bloo." Ed took a moment to compose himself, rubbing the sweat from his forehead with his blanket. He snickered, "Seems like I'm tercer lugar, who arrived first?"

Bloo squinted and a hint of ridicule came out, "Ms. Coco happened to arrive first- BUT! I could've been first if certain events didn't occu-"

_"Cocococococo, cocococo. Co."_ Coco walked in and quickly interrupted Bloo's incoming tirade, and offered the purple beast a tea cup with water. 

"Gracias, Coco. I'm not much of a runner you see…" Ed said before gulping down the water.

Bloo chuckled, and faced away from Ed to gaze into the window. Peering outside to see a familiar red figure walking by, heading towards the front door. "Ay, Wilt's back!"

The front door creaked open and Wilt stepped in, his longsword stowed away in the sheath on his back. Bloo and Coco entered, with the slime being first to talk, "What took ya' so long slowpoke? You're last place!" 

A snicker came from the red leader, "Getting a sword fixed up and restored isn't something that takes a moment, man." 

"Pfft, I know that-"

_"Cocococococococo!"_ The bird sharply interrupted, bringing up how it was time for her reward.

A collection of groans came from the boys, even the exhausted Ed in the bedroom made noise. Just as quickly as it brought up, Ed entered the room, and everyone dug into their pockets to pull out 15 silver, and the boys handed their hard earned currency to Coco. Smugness was all over her face as she stashed away the money into her pouch. 

" _Coco, co."_ Coco thanked the others, while still wearing a cheeky smirk.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, whatever. Let's talk about the emblems now, please?" Bloo mentioned.

"Wait, wait, but first, check out my longsword!" Wilt said quickly, grabbing the sheathed sword's hilt. He pulled out the blade and held it forward. Light reflected off the now sleek and shiny iron, with the double edged blade forgoing its previous rusted and deteriorated look for a now sharp and sturdy attire. The hilt had a bronze glow to it, instead of just rusted brown. Strange characters were engraved in the blade as well, which weren't there before.

"Woah! That old longsword got one hell of a glow up, considering how you found that old thing buried in the mud long ago." Bloo leaned in to look closer at the shining iron.

Ed was in awe, "Wow, it looks like a whole new blade now! Wait, what are those letters on the side there?" 

"Hm? Oh that, well that's actually the coolest part, the blacksmith engraved a spell into it, Green-Flame Blade, if I recall correctly."

Bloo's eyes widened, "Green-Flame Blade?! Nice! That spell can kick some serious ass if used right." 

"That's why I just had to get it when the blacksmith offered it, didn't even know blacksmiths could even engrave spells into weapons. But enough about the sword for now," Wilt said as he unequipped his blade. "The rubies, any verdict? 

The room fell completely silent, and the gentle breeze outside could be easily heard. Everyone just stared at each other for a moment, and a tinge of awkwardness was present. 

The dead air was broken when Ed suddenly spoke, "How bout' we cast them into jewelry or weaponry, and resell them in the richer part of the village?"

"I mean it's _possible,_ but not practical. Casting gemstones is pretty technical for average folks like us, making jewelry requires good craftsmanship, and us selling expensive stuff basically out of nowhere publicly, would look… suspicious." Wilt critiqued while rubbing his chin.

"Just don't look suspicious, easy," Bloo said lazily. 

_"Coco coco coco, cocococococo, cococo cocococo."_ Coco laid down another idea, she explained how they could smuggle the ruby emblems outside of Mystic Mana's territory, and sell it to a kingdom that doesn't have strict laws about material goods. 

"That sounds pretty involved, we'll have to prepare and organize a long trip outside of the village. Said trip can take from days to weeks as we gotta leave the forest and most kingdoms are fairly far away from home. No guarantees on profit either. And what if the kingdom puts us in hot water for trying to sell it? Seems risky, but doable with some planning and mapping," Wilt said, with a hint of hesitation in his tone.

"But Mr. Herriman would be worried sick if we're gone for over a week…" Ed mentioned, genuinely bothered.

Bloo laughed, "The old man will worry no matter what we do. Hell, I'd love to take a good long break from the crummy academy to go on a big adventure like traveling to another kingdom. We can get some of our friends, like Billy, Bloppy, and the others to cover our asses while we're gone. Even better, I think we can stow away on one of the carriages the hunters ' _legally'_ ride out of the village to the very outskirts of the forest. Shortens down the trip time quite a bit, dontcha' think?"

Wilt stared at the ceiling, contemplating, "Maybe there's a better idea…" 

"Wilt, that's the best idea we got right now. Let's face it, anything in Mystic Mana's walls is a no go. The adventure will be well worth the trouble since we'll likely come home with coins spilling out of our ears! Do you realize that we can buy ourselves better homes, and finally leave the orphan circle? C'mon man, just consider it, we'll work out the kinks later," Bloo insisted.

The red leader looked to the left, "You're right. To even consider doing anything with the emblems, we have no choice but to face the land…" Wilt rubbed the bandage on his torso, "But we've only had adventures within the large forest that borders Mystic Mana, we've never explored what's beyond the forest together. I'm not sure if we're truly ready for it…"

Bloo walked over and looked up at Wilt, "Mac does it all the time, so why can't we? We're ready for it, no reason to doubt it."

Wilt looked at the slime in front of him, and then to Ed and Coco. He was clearly not fully convinced just yet.

Ed stepped forward, "I'm up for it, despite how scary it sounds. But as long as you guys are with me, I have little to fear." 

_"Cocococococo!"_ Coco flapped her wings in excitement as she spoke, and made it known that she wasn't worried about the outside at all.

Wilt's doubtful frown turned into a small smile, "Welp, most of you seem so amped up. I guess we'll give it a shot. Just this once. I'll get a map from from one of the libraries in the village, and I'll inform our school friends of what we're planning-"

"Except Berry and Cheese of course," Bloo quickly added.

Wilt rolled his eyes, "Fine, but it's gonna spread through word of mouth anyway. I assume we'll hop on the hunters carriages next Thursday, so that'll give us a few days to pack up and prepare, since it's Sunday. We'll _skip_ school Thursday morning and stow away. Everyone get that?" 

A combined assent came from the other three. Which solidified that their next adventure was on.

Drool was escaping out of Bloo’s mouth and onto the desk during Magic History class. The poor slime was on the brink of completely falling asleep in the middle of what was the most boring class he had that day. His eyelids made slow blinks, and the brief moments of darkness were comforting to the tired slime. The teacher up front, who Bloo completely forgot the name of, was droning on and on about the history of arcane focuses, which Bloo didn’t care for at all. His head was down on the desk, when a small tap on his right caused him to jerk back up. 

“Sleepy in class again?” Berry whispered to him, tauntingly. 

The slime groaned, “No, no, what made ya’ think that?” 

“Oh, I don’t know, maybe the fact that you’re drooling a waterfall on your desk and how your eyes can barely stay open,” She replied. 

Out of all of the desks in the classroom, Berry’s and Bloo’s had the smallest space between them, which struck out a bit, but not as much since they were seated in the back row.

“Oh, shut up. Lemme’ rest my eyes. Wednesdays are so boring.”

“You look so cute when you’re tired, slimeboy,” Berry chuckled, “But you’re gonna miss out on info that’ll be on the homework later, unless you want me to do it for you again~”

“Homework, bonework, whatever it is, I don’t care. It ain’t gonna matter when I-” Bloo sharply cut himself off, almost forgetting how he didn’t want Berry to know about the planned adventure starting tomorrow. 

“Ain’t gonna matter when I, what now?” She repeated, in a hushed tone, “What were you about to say?”

Bloo moved his head further away from her, almost causing it to slip off the desk, “Nothing. Don’t worry about it, the sleep’s talking.”

“No, no, you got me curious now, blue bro. Are you planning on doing something fun?” 

Damn it, Bloo thought to himself, his sleepy ass really messed up, “No, I was talking about when I leave this crummy class.”

Berry gave the slime a very hard stare, which made him uneasy, “Really?” 

“Errr… Yes! Yes of course, I don’t have any plans at all actually.” Bloo said sharply, regretting what he said seconds afterwards.

“Oh so you don’t have any plans? Well, let’s make some! Wanna go out on a date tomorrow?”

‘No.” Bloo said boldly, with some bass in his voice.

“Awww… Too committed for you? Okay, how about we instead go to a magic show together?”

“No.”

“Flower picking?”

“No.”

“Hanging out at my place?”

“No way.”

Berry was clearly starting to feel frustrated, and a frown formed on her face. “You couldn’t possibly refuse a walk around the village, no strings attached, just _us_ walking around.” Her volume began to rise as she spoke, gaining the attention from nearby students. 

Bloo noticed the students glancing over at them, which made him feel very awkward, even though Berry didn’t care who saw. “Uhhh, okay sure! Calm down please, we’ll walk tomorrow, I promise!” 

Berry volume lowered, and her frown turned into a big smile, “Yay! That’s more like it! I’ll come by your place after school tomorrow, so don’t ditch on me like last time, kay’?”

And Bloo did it again, making false promises he can’t keep to get her off his back for the moment, he groaned, “Yeah, yeah, whatever, let me sleep.” He said.

“I’ll do your homework for you again, since the blue baby needs his rest. Sweet dreams, Blooregard!” 

I hate her so much, the peeved slime thought to himself. Bloo started thinking of what the adventure tomorrow will bring, which eased his mind. The babbling of the instructor was like a lullaby, as it made the slime go unconscious in moments.

  
  
  
  
  



End file.
